Windows 10: Unable to activate Windows 10 after reinstalling/resetting

Hoping for some help when it comes to activating Windows 10 on my laptop.

A bit of background:
*When this laptop was purchased new it was running Windows 7, however I took advantage of the free upgrades when each new O/S was released.
*Last night Windows installed an update and upon restarting, the computer would not boot and as part of the recovery Windows 10 was reinstalled.


Now after the reinstall Windows is saying it can't activate as I don't have a valid digital licence or product key error 0x803F7001.

The Windows edition listed in the activation window for reference is "Windows 10 Enterprise".


I have the original Windows 7 product key, however as this laptop was upgraded using the app/during the free upgrade periods I do not have any other product keys or licences, and entering the Windows 7 product key into the activation window does not work either.

Any insight into this issue would be appreciated :

:)

 

Most painless way to reinstall windows 10?

It depends on the junk accumulated honestly, but there are various methods. You can always remove programs, delete download folder, media locations, etc. As some have suggested, keeping some items on a separate internal storage drive is an option as well. Depends on what you have, what your budget is and how you want to handle your system and data.

The method @RejZoR suggests is sound and a method I've used dozens if not hundreds of time with great success in the field. In many cases though the goal is to keep user data intact, and to repair the OS. In place upgrade as it is called is also only doable in that method if you can boot to desktop, if you can't, it is time for some more advanced options or a format & reinstall.

With Windows 8 and 10 there are refresh and reset options that can be leveraged as well. Hold Shift and click Restart to reboot your system, this will get you into the advanced boot menu, which you'll need to choose advanced options (I forget ATM what it is called) and choose one of a couple items, refresh or reset.

Refresh is essentially In Place Upgrade but a little more aggressive as it wipes the Windows Apps and you may need to reinstall programs. Reset is like an OS reinstall, wipes user data, wipes profiles, registry, performs a install from the system image. Often times I'll do this and bypass using a USB key on a system. Though there are instances where these options will not work if a system has a level of corruption that has not been repaired/resolved. Check the OS Repair link in my sig for more info if ya need.

*Toast :toast:

 

[Solved] Windows 10 keeps reinstalling KB3119142

I noticed quite some time ago that KB3119142 (Update for Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Update 4 Redistributable Package) kept reinstalling itself for some reason. At least once daily. Sometimes up to several times a day. I just ignored it. It didn't seem to be doing any harm. And I figured they'd eventually fix it. Well...days turned into weeks, weeks into months, with no end to the problem in sight. It dragged on unsolved for at least the last few months. Literally reinstalling itself hundreds of(at least a hundred, felt like more) times in that period of time.

So I finally googled it a couple days ago. And just got around to fixing it today. Which appears to have worked. And it couldn't have been easier to do. I feel so stupid to have let it intimidate me for so long.*Oops!

Below are links to the thread that I got the fix idea from, and the official MS support info page for KB3119142(from which I quoted the above).
http://www.tenforums.com/windows-up...-windows-10-keeps-reinstalling-kb3119142.html
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3119142

 

Unable to activate Windows after reinstalling Windows 10

Hi Ralph,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



I understand that you are unable to activate Windows 10 on your computer. Ideally, when we upgrade to Windows 10 from an older version of Windows i.e. Windows 7/8/8.1 the license is a digital license. If you were using a Microsoft account, the license
is digitally linked to the Microsoft account.



When you say, “I recently reset the machine and reinstalled windows 10” how did you reinstall Windows 10 on the computer i.e. using a bootable USB or upgrade from Media Creating Tool?



If you have used a USB and created a USB using another computer running on Windows 10 Home, most likely, the USB would have taken the OS running on the computer.



I would suggest you to download Windows 10 Pro by following the steps mentioned below and reinstall Windows on the computer:

1. Go to the website:
   https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10 and click on
   Download tool now.
   
2. Run the Media Creation Tool.
   
3. If you receive any prompt, click on Yes.
   
4. Click on Accept to accept the license terms.
   
5. Click on Create installation media and click on
   Next.
   
6. Clear the checkbox for Use the recommended options for this PC and click on
   Next.
   
7. Select USB flash drive and select
   Next.
   
8. Select the flash drive from the list and click on
   Next.
   
9. Once the download is complete you can use the USB to reinstall Windows 10 Pro.
   

After reinstalling Windows 10 Pro, you can use the same Microsoft account and the Windows should be activated.



However, if you face any issues with activation, you need not worry. You can contact out customer support by calling them and they will assist you with Activation issue. Please refer the article

Global Customer Service phone numbers to get the Customer support number as per your country.



Regards,

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator