Windows 10: W10 Activation problem

I am going nuts. I have an Alienware M17x previously running W7 Home. I upgraded to W10 Home last week (V1511). It went well and W10 was shown as activated with a digital entitlement. Great. However, now after a week or so, in the middle of using my machine normally I suddenly get the 'Windows not activated' note at the foot of the screen. Now I do not seem to be able to activate, pressing activate in the activation section does nothing and will not connect. I entered my old W7 product key and am advised that this will not work. I have not changed anything on my machine, just that suddenly I am not activated. Now I had this before and rolled back to W7 and re-upgraded, exactly the same thing happened some weeks ago, activation only seems to last a week. Why is this happening and I cannot be alone?

Now two questions. What happens if I leave W10 unactivated? Second if I buy a W10 key (which I should not have to to do) presumably I have to reinstall W10 again and will I lose all my files and settings?

I do wish Microsoft would get this right it is so maddening

:)

 

Activation error 0xC004F03

W10 wouldn't update. Couldn't solve problem. Decided to reinstall W10. Now can't activate with subject error code. Activate troubleshooter gave no solution. Says I have a licence for W10 home and it is installed. Help.

 

W10 Activation Problem

But i read that if you have a retail verison of W8 .. you can use the same key for W10 or at least your windows will be activated automatically if I logged in using my same Microsoft account ..

 

We can start helping you if you open a command prompt (admin) [right click on the start icon and select that from the list]. Run:
slmgr /dlv

Post the results window here. There is no uniquely identifying information in the result window so you don't have to blank anything out.

 

I'm afraid you did something wrong. This is what we are looking for:

 

Ah! It did look pretty lengthy and not sure what I have released to the world now!!

Can you amplify slightly how I produce what you want and I will look at it tomorrow (after midnight in the UK now).

Thanks for your help

 

Stayed up! Odd but putting in the command (admin) 'slmgr /dlv' does give the enormous string I sent. I see my version of W10 differs from yours. Incidentally this problem all seemed to start when I ran into problems with the update KB31722985 which my machine keeps rejecting and undoing the update. This seems a common problem. To bed now!!

 

Hmmm.... if you can't get slmgr /dlv to work:

try window key + r to bring up a run dialog. Run winver in it.

Also run showkey plus from this forum:
Showkey - Windows 10 Forums

Click on the displayed product keys to blank them out automatically, the post the result. You should get something like this:

winver:




showkey:




Btw, use the snipping tool to capture the windows/screen selections. Just click the start icon and start typing snip and it will show up at the top of the list.

 

Thanks done that and here are the results which all look sensible and informative. I tried the install key in the activation window and it comes back with error 0x80070424. I see this relates to Windows update issues which ties in with my not being able to load updates which try to install but then roll back









Although I only upgraded two weeks ago I see my version 1511 is shown as year 2015.

Your help is much appreciated.

 

Do you have a COA (Certificate of Authenticity) sticker on the computer for Windows 7? Looks like this:




If so, go to the activation tab under updates & security settings and try changing the product key to the one on the COA sticker. The Original Key shown by showkey cannot be used to activate Windows 7 or Windows 10 - the SLP type product key is the type that is embedded in the factory load of software and only works with the actual restore disks provided by the manufacturer or created with the manufacturer's original software.

It really sounds like you need a clean install of Windows to set everything right, but we need to make sure you have a good activation before doing a clean install if that is what you choose to do.

 

Yes I have the sticker and the W 7 product key shown is different to the one on ShowKeyPlus. I am afraid I tried that first and it does not work. Prior to upgrading I did check the W 7 key in my computer but found it was different to the one on the OEM sticker, so I have two W 7 keys neither of which work!

It is clear from the Windows version and ShowkeyPlus that my machine is licensed and I assume a corruption somewhere is causing the problem. Could this be solved by telephone activation?

I can now see why the forums are littered with people rolling back to previous versions as this is so time consuming and frustrating. Having said that, I am sending this from my desktop which (so far) upgraded from W 8 without a hitch (in fact you gave me the steer to do this without upgrading to W 8.1).

Incidentally while writing this my errant laptop is now trying to install updates and now telling me again it can't complete the updates and is undoing the changes. Next it will say 'Groundhog Day'!!!

 

Since it seems like slmgr /dlv will not run properly on the computer, something appears to be really wrong with the Windows installed on it. The fact that you are only on build 10586.164 also points to that - you should be on build 10586.494 if you don't have the Anniversary update.

You can try running:
slui 4

in a command prompt (admin). That might bring up the phone activation screen and you can try phone activation.

Unfortunately, though, it seems like the reality of the situation is that you really need a clean install to wipe everything out and start fresh. As of yesterday the Anniversary update build of Windows 10 was still activating from manually entered Windows 7 product keys but we're not sure how long that will last. Pretty much forget about the OEM:SLP Windows 7 product key that showkey is showing - that is for use only when restoring the computer from factory provided software. You want to use the product key from the COA sticker.

 

I really appreciate your help. It does indeed look as if my installation is messed up (I could use stronger language!). The version I should be on is indeed the one now on my desktop!

I think I may cut my losses and roll back to W7 (if this works). I am pretty reluctant to try another upgrade as this is my third attempt with my laptop. I do not understand why the upgrade works well initially and shows activation with digital entitlement which suddenly fails. I am pretty convinced that this is down to the windows update being corrupted as it will not update and the error messages I am getting all refer to update issues. However I am not a computer wizz!

I will try phone activation but am not confident it will work but it is worth a try.

Thanks

John

 

NavyLCDR. I hope you are pleased when your advice works. As a conclusion to this saga I did start afresh and make a clean install of Windows 10. It went well and I am now activated with the current version and it is singing along. Don't you like a happy ending!!! Thanks.

John