Windows 10: Windows 10 Upgrade Failure Results in Unusable PC – Specific Questions

p.s. for Office HUP, I think you want to go here:
Microsoft Home Use Program - Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2016. The software suite includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access and more!

 

Well, every step is another hurdle!
I did a clean install of Windows 10 from a bootable thumb drive. But it is not activated. I guess my problematic install of Windows 10 was never activated? (When I did "systeminfo" in the command line, I got a product ID - I didn't realize that is not the same as an activation code. But anyways, I assumed that it was installed properly.)
I called Microsoft and they told me to take a hike (ie. go buy Windows 10). They said I should have called them before I did the clean install, and they can't help me now. But I went ahead with the clean install since I've read in many places that you should be able to do that. At any rate, is there anything I can do at this point?

So the bottom line is I had a perfectly good Windows 7 Pro machine, and now I have a lump of hardware unless I shell out. Thanks a lot, Microsoft! It is all very frustrating, and way too time consuming for an end user to have to go thru.

 

Change the product key to your Windows 7 product key.

 

I thought of that, but I don't have it. It is a Dell PC, and the key is not on a sticker on the PC, not on the order form and not on the sleeve for the OS reinstall disk. I even called Dell. They said the product key is burned into the processor or something.

 

If it has a removable battery, it's worth looking behind that to see if the Windows 7 Product key is there.
I'm sure I've seen that on a laptop and I think it was a Dell.
Or if you have a backup of when it was running Windows 7, you could restore that.

 

Press win + R keys to open run dialog and run Winver. Then right click on start icon and select command prompt (admin). In the command prompt run: slmgr /dlv

Post the results here and we might be able to help you more. Results should look like this:

 

i cant excess my external wd usb drive.. i can eject it from the task bar, see it in device manager.. nothing wrong, its says device is working properly and is updated, i can see it in the connected devices settings, i can see it in computer management but cant do anything to it.. but when i go to this pc under devices and drives its not there making it inaccessible.. i even tried changing the auto play settings.. uninstalling it still nothing

 

Progenitor04 Welcome to Tenforums!

Now, if you want help for your problem, start your own thread, with a good title like "Can't Access External WD USB Drive" in the "Drivers and Hardware" forum, fill in your System Specs with all the details, and don't tag along with someone else's unconnected problem thread.

Why not? - it's bad manners, like a kid butting into someone else's conversation, it does not add anything to the original thread, and no one can find your problem or solution if it's relevant to them, or they can help you.

 

ya but the topic kind makes it sounds like general ?s but i will do that thanks

 

My nightmare is over! I've activated Windows 10 Pro, and reinstalled the programs and files that I wanted. So hopefully all my problems of the past month are behind me. DavidY's suggestion to look in the battery compartment for the old Windows 7 activation code bore fruit. So, per NavyLCDR's suggestion, I tried to activate Windows 10 with that, and it worked!
Thanks to all for your suggestions. I'll mark this as solved. I don't know what the problem was, but at least it is behind me!

 

Glad it worked for you!