My friend needs help.

[Hmood]

So i know i should go ask for help on microsoft foruns for this kind of problem but i already did and they are taking ages to responde so i figured to try it here so backstory my friend bought a pc with no SO he also bought a windows 10 key but he didnt know how to activate it, so he took the pc to a technician and asked for him to activate the key that he bought earlier, for some reason the guy installed some pirate windows 10 pro   and now my friend wants to get rid of the pirated windows and activate his legitimate key but the error 0xc004f050 pops out with a message saying that that key doesn't work. help pls.

Sorry for my bad english.

[Middcore]

The technician probably bought a cheap key from a gray-market site just like your friend did. Is your friend experiencing any actual problem with the "pirated" Windows?

[aramini]

 

What version of Windows 10 is your friend's "legitimate key" for? Home or Pro?. Sounds like the key may have already been activated before on another system or something. I'd contact the seller of the key and tell them the key doesn't work. Some of those grey market vendors will issue you a new key.

 

I am running Windows 10 Pro x64 and activated with a key I got from Kinguin (grey market) for $40 USD (wasn't going to pay $119+ USD for a crap OS that I only use for gaming.Besides, 6yrs ago they were giving it away for free lol) and have not had any problems, although I did initially have to use the Windows 10 Activation Troubleshooter to get a confirmation code and activate. I have reinstalled Windows 10 twice since then and it just activates with a digital license in my Microsoft Account.

 

So assuming the vendor gets you a new working key that is not compromised, you can do the same procedure.

 

Winkey+S > Get Help, then in the AI Chat that pops up type "Windows 10 Activation Troubleshooter" and then go through the steps. It will prompt you with questions.