Windows 10: Unable to activate my Windows 10

I upgraded to windows 10 home from windows 8.1 when Windows 10 first came out a few years ago. then I got a new hard drive installed on my laptop and the store reinstalled everything for me. Now, after all this time I get a message in my settings "windows isn't activated. activate now".


When I go to put my product key in (from windows 8.1) it will not accept it. At the top of the activation page it says that I am running Windows 10 Pro. The computer store that installed my new hard drive is no longer in business.


My product key will not work with windows 10 pro.


I am not tech savvy. How can I get the clean install of windows 10 home without buying it since I had gotten it when it first came out? Or how can I get my product key to work?

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

DOWNLOAD WINDOWS 10 NOW - Upgrade and ISO direct from microsoft

Click to expand... Yeah I went to that site, why do I need to buy a key?
I won't buy a key, stupid.

I'll revert back to windows 7 then.

When I still was on windows 7, about a year ago I added 4GB extra ram which is a total of 8GB now,
is that causing the problem?

 

DOWNLOAD WINDOWS 10 NOW - Upgrade and ISO direct from microsoft

this search might help you https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sou...o+to+get+it+activated+windows+10+blocked+keys

From http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/why-activate-windows-10

If you upgraded to Windows 10 for free and ended up in a non-activated state, try following these steps:

• Go to Start
  
  , then select Settings > Update & security > Activation.
• Select Go to Store, and check to see if a valid license is available for your device. If a license isn't available, you'll need to buy Windows from the Store.
  
  Note
  • This only applies if you haven't made changes to the hardware for your device.

or you could hack it with a crack but please note this is always risky and you don't know what's in the hack