Windows 10: windows 11 pro activation help needed from digital license on clean install

Hi,I am beyond frustrated. i have a digital win10 pro license. i just built a new PC and retiring the old win10 machine. i wanted to do a clean install of win11 pro which i did. i am now trying to activate the license without success. i performed the activation process no longer have a activate by phone option so there is zero MS support. the troubleshooter ran and i said i changed the hardware. it searched and found my old pc license and i clicked 'yes im using this one' and then it took a few seconds and said sorry unable to continue or something. when i try to activate again it says i can

:)

 

Activate windows 10 after a clean install through digital license.

Windows 10 Digital License

When you upgraded from a previous version of Windows or receive a new computer preinstalled with Windows 10, what happened is the hardware (your PC) will get a digital entitlement, where a unique signature of the computer will be stored on Microsoft
Activation Servers. The Windows 7 or Windows 8 genuine license you were previously running will be exchanged for a diagnostics key.

Anytime you need to reinstall Windows 10 on that machine, just proceed to reinstall Windows 10. It will automatically reactivate. You will prompted to enter a product key a couple times through the installation, click I don't have
a key and Do this later.

There is no need to know or get a new key, but if you have issues with Digital Licensing or the Activation Troubleshooter, you can utilize an existing Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 product key you already own to
reactivate if necessary. or use the reset function in Windows 10.

Activate Your Windows 10 License via Microsoft Chat Support

Reinstall by Performing a Direct Clean Install

If Windows 10 was already installed and activated on your system, just proceed to perform a direct clean install as described in the following articles.

Step 1: How
to download official Windows 10 ISO files

Step 2:

• How to: Perform a clean install of Windows 10

 

Clean Windows 10 (?PRO?) install

Where exactly did you get this "windows pro" key from? If it's off eBay or something, then perhaps you've been sold a dud key. Also, it's not clear if you mean you bought windows 10 pro or an earlier version of windows as there's no such thing as "windows pro".

Do you have an Windows 7 or 8.1? If so, install that, download the ISO with the media creation tool and burn it to disc. Then run it as an upgrade. After that, the components hash of your PC will give you a digital entitlement for a clean install, so just bought off that disc, wipe the partitions and install it clean. It will auto activate over the internet once installed.

 

Windows 10 Pro digital license - "Activate Windows" watermark

Hi Pauru, welcome to Ten Forums.

I honestly believe the best course of action would be to start from scratch, performing a clean install of Windows 10 Pro.

Your screenshot is from in-place upgrade or repair install, not from a clean install. An upgrade or repair install is launched from Windows desktop, running the setup.exe file from Windows install media. It only repairs / replaces system files and folders keeping installed software and your personal files and folders intact. It has none whatsoever effect in Windows activation.

A clean install can only be done by booting the computer from Windows install media. Old Windows installation will be wiped out, as well as all installed software and personal data. In your case this should allow an automatic activation. See tutorial: Windows 10 - Clean Install - Windows 10 Forums

Notice that when clean install asks your product key, you can skip it (not enter any key) as told in step 7 in above mentioned tutorial. Digital license does not require a product key.

A digital license does not require a Microsoft account. For example, I always reinstall Windows using a local account and when done, checking the activation before adding any Microsoft accounts shows that Windows is activated with a digital license.

If you decided to try a clean install, be sure to backup your system first to allow restore if it does not work (I am quite sure it will work but better safe than sorry). Remember that clean install wipes your personal data (documents, music, videos, pictures and so on) in addition to all installed software. Copy all personal stuff to an external disk before starting.