rockero_8727

If you have a retail windows key, back up your important data and reinstall windows, using your retail key to activate it.
Just a clean slate, sometimes that will work with Microsoft’s weird key management stuff with Microsoft accounts.

That's unfortunate, I've always found Microsoft sort this sort of thing out over the phone without issues - though yeah it seems to take way longer than it should.  Last time I had to do it they seemed to speed things up by just giving me a new key.
 
Now its wiped out the key from your computer, what happens if you go to activation?  If its tied to your Microsoft account it should ask you which license you want to assign to that PC.

Same thing. Went though all that with MS and they eventually issued me a new key. 

So, this year, we decided to put together a fun little giveaway for all of the techies in our audience... the chance to give mom, or grandma, or WHOEVER in your life that isn't a techie a tech-focused gift for the holiday!

The rules are simple:
 
- Comment below telling us what gift (value of US$300 or less before tax and shipping on Amazon) you would want to give to your non-techie counterpart and link to that gift on Amazon
- In your comment, tell us WHO you have chosen to potentially receive that gift (mom, grandma, neighbor, etc.)
- Also tell us WHY you're getting it for them (eg. a new smartphone because grandpa still has a flip phone)
 
Make sure your gift is US$300 or less on Amazon.com. If a selected winner has linked to an item with a value greater than US$300 they will be re-drawn!
 
Winners will have 24 hours to respond here on the forum. If we do not receive a response in 24 hours, we will not hesitate to re-draw.
 
The three (3) winners will be selected on December 14. Once winners have been selected, they will be contacted by me here on the forum, and will provide the full shipping info for the recipient of their gift. Once we receive that information, we will order the winner's selected gift from the recipient's local Amazon and schedule for delivery by December 25.

There are no age or geographical restrictions to enter this giveaway.

Good luck to all, and happy holidays!
 
EDIT: Winners have been selected!

@VictorC777 who selected a Canary All-In-One Home Security Device for their Mother
@Kibelok who selected a Ninja Ultima or the Instant Pot for their mom
And @KirbyTech who selected a point and shoot camera for their dad

Thanks again for entering, and happy holidays to everyone here