Windows 10: Windows 10 Pro + SSD Failure = No key being tied to my account?

Activation Issue


Hi! I recently had a SSD failure and since replaced the drive [The drive had my OS on at the time and I forgot to back it up].


I grabbed a new drive and reinstalled Windows and finally had it all sorted, I then went to activate my version of Windows using my Windows 10 Pro key that I thought was tied to my account. Went to the troubleshooter and pressed

the "Recently Changed Hardware" option and the only version of Windows I was shown was Windows 10 Home.




I can't activate this version of windows either for whatever reason. The only error code I ever get is on the activation tab and is "0xC004F025" which I can't find any documentation on or I am really just blind.

I can't even supply the Product Key for the Windows 10 Pro because it was saved in a text document on the drive that failed. And to clarify, the product key for the Windows 10 Pro was given to me by a friend when he got a new system as he was using Linux for a project and we've tried going to the company that sold the PC to see if we can get a new one but as it wasn't used in the system supplied they've declined the request.


I really don't want to spend around £200 to get a new key due to a SSD failure. First time I've ever had a drive failure at all so I suppose I'm doing pretty well considering that.


Any suggestions on what to do would be appreciated. I'll list below what I've already tried!

I've tried:

Going to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/10738/windows-10-get-help-with-activation-errors and looking for my error code "0xC004F025"of which cannot be found.


I've tried contacting support but apparently my carrier doesn't like to accept the toll free number calling me or me calling the number.

:)

 

windows 10 key

Thanks but I don't want to do any decrypting. I want to download a Win 10 ISO from Microsoft and install it using my Win 8 key. No other steps required. Is that possible?

 

Installing Windows 10 using Windows 7 key

Nope, you need to install Windows 10 first and make sure the Windows 7 key is transferred to your Windows account after you've installed Windows 10 (not quite sure how that works). I missed the last step and I could not activate Windows 10 after a re-install... Microsoft seem to have done everything they can to make it a PITA. Also, it's technically too late to do this now anyhow, as the upgrade offer has expired. But KMSPico works quite well...

As for getting rid of Windows, delete the Windows folder.

 

Strange Windows 10 User Account issue.

Unfortunately I had done those steps numerous reboots, it just, reappears for no good reason. The base account isn't even a Microsoft account, it's a local account.

I haven't quite tried the built in administrator account on W10, but so far in my experience on my own computer, the built in account seemed to have absolutely no more control than I did on my own.

It's just strange, I go in, it warns me twice about deleting the account, then it's gone. Reboot, and it's back?

EDIT: Just to specify, both command line and Netplwiz both say only HIS account exists on the computer, it doesn't list this rogue account. This is what I meant in my first post about the fact that even Windows doesn't seem to believe it exists, HALF the time. *Frown