Reset Windows Laptop and now it's not activatin

W

Wazza

Bronze Level Poster
Hello all,

I bought a Laptop from PCS and it was originally windows 10, but if memory serves there was a free upgrade to windows 11. I used it for a long time without any issues. I was having a wifi issue, but thought it was time for a clean and decided to use the Reset option to have a nice fresh clean install. It all worked and the wifi thing is no longer an issue. However now it's requesting for windows activation. I've gone to my order and tried to use the Windows 10 key, but it rejects it.

Any idea what I should do?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Wazza said:
Hello all,

I bought a Laptop from PCS and it was originally windows 10, but if memory serves there was a free upgrade to windows 11. I used it for a long time without any issues. I was having a wifi issue, but thought it was time for a clean and decided to use the Reset option to have a nice fresh clean install. It all worked and the wifi thing is no longer an issue. However now it's requesting for windows activation. I've gone to my order and tried to use the Windows 10 key, but it rejects it.

Any idea what I should do?
Click to expand...
The license is ties to your BIOS so it doesn't need a key, should self activate one the hardware ID is synced to the Microsoft servers once it has a connection.

Are you logged on with the same Microsoft account that was logged on previously? If you're using a Microsoft account it's tied to that account
 
W

Wazza

Bronze Level Poster
Spyder - yes I'm using the same microsoft account (got my office 365 all installed).

What's the product key that I can see on my order page, is that not my windows 10 product key?
 
W

Wazza

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks countingdown - I think there may be corrupted files involved...

1683379383371.png


Guess I'll download the windows 10 image from PCS.
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
If you use the activation trouble shooter, there's an option in there that takes you to your Microsoft account where you can tell it which of the keys on your account to use
 
W

Wazza

Bronze Level Poster
Martinr36 said:
If you use the activation trouble shooter, there's an option in there that takes you to your Microsoft account where you can tell it which of the keys on your account to use
Click to expand...
It didn't even get that far, just got told to either contact support or buy a genuine copy of windows.
 
W

Wazza

Bronze Level Poster
It didn't get that far was in reference to the microsoft account where I could assign keys.

1683467488990.png


support was very generic and did recommend the verification task outlined by Counting Down
 
W

Wazza

Bronze Level Poster
currently just waiting for the delivery of a new USB thumb drive for me to load the iso on.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Wazza said:
currently just waiting for the delivery of a new USB thumb drive for me to load the iso on.
Click to expand...
Do make sure you use the latest from microsoft, they've got a tool that burns the USB completely, don't use Rufus as it causes issues.

If you were to use the one on your PCS account, it's very outdated now and will be out of support which means it's not eligible for update services, that may be why it's not allowing you to register it as well as it's out of support.
 
W

Wazza

Bronze Level Poster
ah, didn't realise they had a tool. My googling recommended rufus. Thanks for the insight.
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Here you go @Wazza follow these instructions

Download a new copy of Windows using the Media Creation Tool (Second option on linked page) to an 8GB (min) USB.
Boot that USB and choose a Custom Install.
Delete all UEFI partitions on the system drive (EFI System, Recovery, MSR Reserved, Primary).
Select the unallocated space that results and click the Next button. The installer will create the correct partitions and install Windows.
Run Windows Update repeatedly, even across reboots, until no more updates are found.
You may need/want to download and install the latest graphics driver from the Nvidia/AMD website (they change so regularly the latest version isn't always in the Windows libraries).

This is also worth a watch
 
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