Windows 10 won't activate

[jjohnthedon1]

After doing a clean install usin the creation tool off of a memory stick windows won't accept my activation code

 

The version of windows ten it clean installed does not have the account activation option nor the activation trouble shorter to go through the changes hardware option

 

i downloaded version 1607 from the media catologe but when I try to run it that opens a message saying windows standalone installer the update is not applicable to my pc

 

can someone please help me get windows activated because I don't no what to do

 

i assume I need to update to the latest version but when I try to install the creators update it installs 80 percent restarts the pc the crashes and fails (4 times now) 

[Nikolithebear]

Your CD key is locked with your motherboard if I remember correctly... You might have to buy a different key? 

[Krystic]

Is this a clean install on old storage for a new system?

[SCHISCHKA]

where did you get your key from? did you get it from the packaging/label or did you use a tool to extract it?

extracted OEM keys dont work, its tied to your motherboard and it should automatically activate unless its something else or you broke the restrictions of OEM.

if key is from retail packaging then you have to deal with MS call center

[Krystic]

1 minute ago, SCHISCHKA said:

where did you get your key from? did you get it from the packaging/label or did you use a tool to extract it?

extracted OEM keys dont work, its tied to your motherboard and it should automatically activate unless its something else or you broke the restrictions of OEM.

if key is from retail packaging then you have to deal with MS call center

Unless he says otherwise, I am thinking he may have used a windows install from a different SSD on a new rig (I am judging by his listed hardware). If that is the case, it sounds like he didn't boot to the original image first to run through the hardware changes. If he has overwritten that drive with a new windows install, then the OP is out of luck unless it is still possible to put the drive back in the old system (where the board would be recognized) and reinstall windows there before booting into it in the new system, and then running through hardware changes. OEMs may not work at all, but I have had some cases where they did in similar situations. Admittedly, this is alot of speculation on my part. lol

[Krystic]

9 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

where did you get your key from? did you get it from the packaging/label or did you use a tool to extract it?

extracted OEM keys dont work, its tied to your motherboard and it should automatically activate unless its something else or you broke the restrictions of OEM.

if key is from retail packaging then you have to deal with MS call center

I am probably inventing my own scenario lol.

[SCHISCHKA]

4 minutes ago, Krystic said:

Unless he says otherwise, I am thinking he may have used a windows install from a different SSD on a new rig (I am judging by his listed hardware). If that is the case, it sounds like he didn't boot to the original image first to run through the hardware changes. If he has overwritten that drive with a new windows install, then the OP is out of luck unless it is still possible to put the drive back in the old system (where the board would be recognized) and reinstall windows there before booting into it in the new system, and then running through hardware changes. OEMs may not work at all, but I have had some cases where they did in similar situations. Admittedly, this is alot of speculation on my part. lol

if its just a drive change then there should not be any problems

[reniat]

Sometimes after hardware changes windows won't auto-activate, but if you call microsoft support they will USUALLY help you out if you truly on the same machine. I had to do this recently with my mobo/cpu/ram upgrade. Technically they don't have to, since they dont officially say that swapping out a core component is not considered a new machine, but I've done this a few times and I haven't had any issues as long as I specify that the old install of windows is no more, and that it really is the "same" PC.

 

 

[Guest]

Me sees huge advantages here for being a pirate. Saves soooo much crap from MS...

[Krystic]

Just now, SCHISCHKA said:

if its just a drive change then there should not be any problems

Yeah, if it were the same system. He quoted a Ryzen build though. Leads me to think it is either new Windows on new drive, or "clean" windows on old drive. The latter is what I was rambling about.

[reniat]

1 minute ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Me sees huge advantages here for being a pirate. Saves soooo much crap from MS...

I've been upgrading off the same windows license for years, even through the win10 upgrade. It's not really a big deal as long as you're willing to spend 10 minutes on the phone within 30 days of upgrading a core component. granted, that's just my individual experience, but I don't think pirating windows is a fair response. 

[Guest]

Just now, reniat said:

but I don't think pirating windows is a fair response.

Agreed, with a huge asterix.

 

Considering how "open" MS is about privacy stuff and what happens with all them harvested datas, I'd have no issue whatsoever if everyone would just pirate windows 10. They get enough money from all the data which has been harvested. And you essentialy give up your pc, because MS will tell you when it will turn off for a reboot/update/whatever. I've also heard things about ads even inside windows itself. Paying to be able to view ads? No way. But that's my personal opinion, and I didn't downgrade to windows 10 yet.

[reniat]

10 minutes ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Agreed, with a huge asterix.

 

Considering how "open" MS is about privacy stuff and what happens with all them harvested datas, I'd have no issue whatsoever if everyone would just pirate windows 10. They get enough money from all the data which has been harvested. And you essentialy give up your pc, because MS will tell you when it will turn off for a reboot/update/whatever. I've also heard things about ads even inside windows itself. Paying to be able to view ads? No way. But that's my personal opinion, and I didn't downgrade to windows 10 yet.

I typed out a long response, but this is getting out of scope of the thread topic. Tl;dr: you can turn a lot of the privacy stuff off during installation, and I think pirating an operating system is still just theft. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, reniat said:

you can turn a lot of the privacy stuff off during installation

And after an random update, all privacy settings have changed. Thumbs up there.

 

I also agree that it remains theft. But consindering what you are stealing, and especialy from WHO you are stealing... I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. But that's my personal opinion.

 

Btw, last time I bought a new HDD, I had to pay an extra 4 euro's, because the HDD could be used for less legal content. It seems to be some sort of general taxes. Even if you would only put random pictures on the disk, you still have to pay them euro's.

[jjohnthedon1]

2 hours ago, Dutch-stoner said:

And after an random update, all privacy settings have changed. Thumbs up there.

 

I also agree that it remains theft. But consindering what you are stealing, and especialy from WHO you are stealing... I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. But that's my personal opinion.

 

Btw, last time I bought a new HDD, I had to pay an extra 4 euro's, because the HDD could be used for less legal content. It seems to be some sort of general taxes. Even if you would only put random pictures on the disk, you still have to pay them euro's.

 

2 hours ago, reniat said:

I typed out a long response, but this is getting out of scope of the thread topic. Tl;dr: you can turn a lot of the privacy stuff off during installation, and I think pirating an operating system is still just theft. 

 

2 hours ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Agreed, with a huge asterix.

 

Considering how "open" MS is about privacy stuff and what happens with all them harvested datas, I'd have no issue whatsoever if everyone would just pirate windows 10. They get enough money from all the data which has been harvested. And you essentialy give up your pc, because MS will tell you when it will turn off for a reboot/update/whatever. I've also heard things about ads even inside windows itself. Paying to be able to view ads? No way. But that's my personal opinion, and I didn't downgrade to windows 10 yet.

 

3 hours ago, reniat said:

I've been upgrading off the same windows license for years, even through the win10 upgrade. It's not really a big deal as long as you're willing to spend 10 minutes on the phone within 30 days of upgrading a core component. granted, that's just my individual experience, but I don't think pirating windows is a fair response. 

 

3 hours ago, Krystic said:

Yeah, if it were the same system. He quoted a Ryzen build though. Leads me to think it is either new Windows on new drive, or "clean" windows on old drive. The latter is what I was rambling about.

 

3 hours ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Me sees huge advantages here for being a pirate. Saves soooo much crap from MS...

 

3 hours ago, reniat said:

Sometimes after hardware changes windows won't auto-activate, but if you call microsoft support they will USUALLY help you out if you truly on the same machine. I had to do this recently with my mobo/cpu/ram upgrade. Technically they don't have to, since they dont officially say that swapping out a core component is not considered a new machine, but I've done this a few times and I haven't had any issues as long as I specify that the old install of windows is no more, and that it really is the "same" PC.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, SCHISCHKA said:

if its just a drive change then there should not be any problems

 

3 hours ago, Krystic said:

I am probably inventing my own scenario lol.

 

3 hours ago, Krystic said:

Unless he says otherwise, I am thinking he may have used a windows install from a different SSD on a new rig (I am judging by his listed hardware). If that is the case, it sounds like he didn't boot to the original image first to run through the hardware changes. If he has overwritten that drive with a new windows install, then the OP is out of luck unless it is still possible to put the drive back in the old system (where the board would be recognized) and reinstall windows there before booting into it in the new system, and then running through hardware changes. OEMs may not work at all, but I have had some cases where they did in similar situations. Admittedly, this is alot of speculation on my part. lol

 

3 hours ago, SCHISCHKA said:

where did you get your key from? did you get it from the packaging/label or did you use a tool to extract it?

extracted OEM keys dont work, its tied to your motherboard and it should automatically activate unless its something else or you broke the restrictions of OEM.

if key is from retail packaging then you have to deal with MS call center

 

3 hours ago, Krystic said:

Is this a clean install on old storage for a new system?

 

3 hours ago, Nikolithebear said:

Your CD key is locked with your motherboard if I remember correctly... You might have to buy a different key? 

My copy of windows is a physical copy from a shop of 8.1 

it is no way tied to the motherboard as is comon with prebuilt systems 

 

is there a way to download the latest version of windows that's not the creators edition 

[reniat]

5 hours ago, jjohnthedon1 said:

My copy of windows is a physical copy from a shop of 8.1 

it is no way tied to the motherboard as is comon with prebuilt systems 

 

is there a way to download the latest version of windows that's not the creators edition 

What we mean by tied to the motherboard, is that windows will detect the hardware it's running on once its installed. Whether its OEM or prebuilt, doesn't matter. It's to prevent people from using the same key on multiple builds. This is why you'd just have to call microsoft support and tell them that it's the same pc, just with a bit of new hardware. Again, this isn't guaranteed, but i've never had any problems with support when doing that. 

 

Do you have a win10 install usb or cd at all? if you can install windows 10, just do it and don't activate it (select activate later). Get into windows, fully install, and then you'll have 30 days to activate windows (which for you means calling windows support and getting them to help you since you replaced hardware). 

[jjohnthedon1]

1 hour ago, reniat said:

What we mean by tied to the motherboard, is that windows will detect the hardware it's running on once its installed. Whether its OEM or prebuilt, doesn't matter. It's to prevent people from using the same key on multiple builds. This is why you'd just have to call microsoft support and tell them that it's the same pc, just with a bit of new hardware. Again, this isn't guaranteed, but i've never had any problems with support when doing that. 

 

Do you have a win10 install usb or cd at all? if you can install windows 10, just do it and don't activate it (select activate later). Get into windows, fully install, and then you'll have 30 days to activate windows (which for you means calling windows support and getting them to help you since you replaced hardware). 

so if i cant activate it in 30 days it wont work any more ?

 

[Nikolithebear]

7 hours ago, jjohnthedon1 said:

My copy of windows is a physical copy from a shop of 8.1 

it is no way tied to the motherboard as is comon with prebuilt systems 

 

is there a way to download the latest version of windows that's not the creators edition 

I have a windows 8.1 pro key and it does not work with windows 10.  You might have to go back to windows 8.1 to use that key. 

[jjohnthedon1]

45 minutes ago, Nikolithebear said:

I have a windows 8.1 pro key and it does not work with windows 10.  You might have to go back to windows 8.1 to use that key. 

I'm gona install 8.1 on a drive now and try update that to 10 creators 

[reniat]

1 hour ago, jjohnthedon1 said:

so if i cant activate it in 30 days it wont work any more ?

 

no, its just that an unactivated windows installation will work normally for 30 days. After 30 days some features become disabled because they won't want people to use it without activating it. You could theoretically just re-install windows every 30 days and never buy it again, but then you'd have to re-install windows every 30 days. That would get really old really quickly. 

[jjohnthedon1]

45 minutes ago, reniat said:

no, its just that an unactivated windows installation will work normally for 30 days. After 30 days some features become disabled because they won't want people to use it without activating it. You could theoretically just re-install windows every 30 days and never buy it again, but then you'd have to re-install windows every 30 days. That would get really old really quickly. 

I'm fed up already with it lol where can I buy a cheap copy for ten and just type a new code back in ?

[Krystic]

38 minutes ago, jjohnthedon1 said:

I'm fed up already with it lol where can I buy a cheap copy for ten and just type a new code back in ?

You can use your Win10 bootable (from the media creation tool) and buy a key here. https://www.kinguin.net/category/22175/windows-10-home-oem-key/ 

I have used this site before, just read everything and look at all the check boxes. Paul (Paul's Hardware) also uses this resource.

[Krystic]

@jjohnthedon1 You can also get a pro key for a few dollars more. I linked an OEM key, though that shouldn't really matter for a while and it is much cheaper than the retail key.

[jjohnthedon1]

1 hour ago, Krystic said:

@jjohnthedon1 You can also get a pro key for a few dollars more. I linked an OEM key, though that shouldn't really matter for a while and it is much cheaper than the retail key.

Can you no upgrade hardware at all with a  oem key even if u call Microsoft ? 

[Krystic]

39 minutes ago, jjohnthedon1 said:

Can you no upgrade hardware at all with a  oem key even if u call Microsoft ? 

They have a pretty strict guideline for OEM upgrades, but they almost never give you trouble. They only things that will be any problem at all to upgrade are the mobo and ssd/hdd that you use for storage. Even then, I have seen it work more often than not. A mobo replacement may mean that you have to call and talk to someone, a storage replacement (for me) has normally recognized the mobo and reactivated.

 

Don't take just my word for it though! You are more than welcome (and I would encourage you) to do a little more digging if you feel unsure about using an OEM key. My experience, with the 2 or 3 systems I have had to deal with OEM keys on, may certainly be the exception rather than the rule.