Windows 10 activation watermark

[Roadrunt]

I have had windows 10 activated for nearly a year now and the watermark has started showing again??

[Lurick]

Have you tried to reboot the computer?

Have you tried to "reactivate" windows?

[GoodBytes]

Where did you buy your license?

[Keppla]

Check the settings to see if it says windows is activated or not. My computer should show it.

[Streetguru]

3 minutes ago, Roadrunt said:

I have had windows 10 activated for nearly a year now and the watermark has started showing again??

Does it really matter? Did you buy a license from Kinguin or something?

[Radium_Angel]

Heck, has the activation server been blocked at the firewall level perchance?

[GoodBytes]

12 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Heck, has the activation server been blocked at the firewall level perchance?

That is a possibility. It can be a program that he installed that blocks communication with Microsoft Activation Servers some time ago, it can be his router firewall feature (if it has such options). But usually, and most probably, it is the purchased licenses was from a non genuine place like Kinguin, eBay among other places where the key was resold to someone else. That is the risk of buying a cheap license.

 

More rarely it is Windows Activation issue, but usually a manual phone activation resolve the issue. The other case is if the user affected by the issue, upgraded the motherboard or way too much in 1 shot, so Windows thinks you moved the HDD/SSD to another system. Under such case, if you have a retail license of Windows, you can do a phone activation and it will reactivate just fine. If you have OEM, and the motherboard was changed, then you'll need to buy a new license, as per the terms and conditions of the license agreement, where Windows locks itself to the motherboard it is firstly installed on, else a phone activation will work.

 

It is also a possibility that a malware was installed on the system, extracted the product key, and uploaded to some server for resale (and the malware can easily delete itself after, or try to spread itself and delete itself on the system so if a security software didn't detect it in time, it could have flew off the radar).

 

If the product key was purchased at a trusted store, and the system wasn't changed, than I would do a phone activation.

[RAM555789]

36 minutes ago, Roadrunt said:

I have had windows 10 activated for nearly a year now and the watermark has started showing again??

Did you switch motherboards? If so windows sees it as a new PC, as long as you bought a retail version and not an OEM key you should be able to reuse that key. (unless it be used 5 times already I believe)

[Roadrunt]

12 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

 

More rarely it is Windows Activation issue, but usually a manual phone activation resolve the issue. The other case is if the user affected by the issue, upgraded the motherboard or way too much in 1 shot, so Windows thinks you moved the HDD/SSD to another system. Under such case, if you have a retail license of Windows, you can do a phone activation and it will reactivate just fine. If you have OEM, and the motherboard was changed, then you'll need to buy a new license, as per the terms and conditions of the license agreement, where Windows locks itself to the motherboard it is firstly installed on, else a phone activation will work.

 

3

This seems to be the problem  I recently moved my hard drives into another pc since my motherboard died in my old one :). Thanks.

[GoodBytes]

5 minutes ago, Roadrunt said:

This seems to be the problem  I recently moved my hard drives into another pc since my motherboard died in my old one :). Thanks.

Aha! So then a phone activation will solve your problem. If you have a OEM license (assuming not from a computer manufacture (Dell, HP, Acer, etc.)), and your nice, Microsoft will usually give you an override code to move the license to the new motherboard as a nice gesture as your motherboard broke.