Windows 10: Slui.exe doesn't display menu to change product key.

My Windows 10 Pro x86-64 machine all of a sudden had a deactivated key. I called MS Tech Support who got on my system remotely and gave me a new key. Originally I had a digital key when I upgraded from Windows 8.1.

In the course of Tech Support trying to change my key we found out that slui.exe doesn't produce any menu. On a VM test machine it does bring up the change key menu. Slui.exe 3 seems to bring up the same menu and also doesn't work on my production machine. However slui.exe 4 does work on my production machine. This brings up the Country and Region menu. I haven't tried any of number.

All the other ways to change the key don't work either. The one in Settings|Update & Security|Activation is just one example. I assume all it does is execute slui.exe.

I checked the permissions of slui.exe against the one on my VM test system. They were identical. Any idea on how to get slui working again? Perhaps it's a Registry entry problem. For such a minor problem reinstalling Windows is not an option.

Thanks.

:)

 

Windows 10 reactivation after motherboard+cpu+ram change

Using the slui command only prompts me to change the product key.

Using slui.exe 4 doesn't actually work when i try to run it. It just doesn't do anything. Using slui.exe 3 prompts me to change the product key.

Is there any other way to open the installation ID screen?

 

windows is no longer activated

Hi,

to be honest, I'm not going to try putting a "Win 10 Home" licence key. I cannot believe this will solve an issue related to windows 10 Pro. I'm too concerned that it would make things worse. So I'll skip that solution

As for the second suggestion:

I ran "slui.exe 4", and it doesn't do anything, no programme is launched, no error or warning.

I tried "slui.exe" and I get a popup to enter a product key

I put my windows 8.1 key and it's not accepted:

The product key that you entered didn't work. Check the product key and try again, or enter a different one. (0xc0020036)

 

Hello streetwolf, *Smile

As a test run the changepk.exe command instead to see if that may allow you to change your product key.

If not, then you might see if one of the other options in the tutorial below may.

*Arrow Change Product Key in Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

 

slui 3 doesn't work either. It appears from my VM testing that slui and slui 3 produce the change key menu. Like I said slui 4 works.

None of the methods in the tutorial work.

 

Odd. Any error messages? Especially from Option 5 with command prompt.

 

I think the MS Tech Rep tried all of the methods in your tutorial including 5 with no success. She finally had to use the Phone Call method and perhaps something else. It would have been a lot easier if slui worked.

Does slui.exe need to be registered?

 

What happens, or doesn't happen with options 1 and 2?

 

Nothing happens with 1 or 2. I also tried slui /? hoping to get a help menu but nothing here either.

 

Might want to run the system file checker. Best guess is a system file associated with activation has been mangled. Or you PC is infected/compromised. What were you doing when activation failed?

 

I did run sfc /scannow which found no errors. I don't think I ever had to run slui to change a key so I don't know when it stopped working. After I upgraded from 8.1 to 10 for free and got a digital license slui might have run transparently as part of the upgrade process at that time.

 

Just a note, I tried slui.exe on my production machine with Version 1703 Build 15063.540 and it worked but had to be careful to close/cancel a blue panel that appeared over the panel desired.

 

You may have dependencies that are corrupt.. run a diagnostic report to check for tampered files

See Activation troubleshooting - Windows 10 Forums

 

Version 1703 Build 15063.540 here and slui runs just fine for me. It opens Settings > Update & security > Activation and then opens the "Enter a product key" panel that you would get if you clicked "Chang product key" on that page. Nothing happens unless you enter a key in that box and click next. Even then, it has to be a valid key. And even then, you have to click one more yes before it does anything. You'd have to work at it to un activate your system. *Wink

 

Keep in mind that I'm not trying to activate a key. I'm just curious as to why only slui 4 works for me.