OS Will Not Activate After Upgrade / Clean Install
Jul 29, 2015
I upgraded from 8.1 (genuine Sony Vaio ) using the media creation upgrade option, it installed and activated to windows 10 pro.
I then used the same media creation tool to download the iso and used Rufus to put it onto a usb so that I could do a clean install.
I installed it and skipped the parts prompting for a product key, however once it loads up when I try to activate it states 0xC004C003 details section says the key has been blocked?
I have been an Insider since the very first Insider build was released. I had installed each and every build first being on the Slow ring and the on the Fast. I had upgraded from a genuine Windows 8.1 Pro.
When the final RTM build TH1 Professional 10240 was released to Insiders ahead of schedule, I readily installed it and my machine was permanently activated at that time. The product key used was a generic one ending in 3V66T. Many of you may be knowing this.
Today, in fact just now, I formatted my system partition and installed a clean copy of Windows 10 Pro from USB which I had created using the Microsoft Creation Tool. When the setup asked me for a product key, I entered the same generic key as stated above. But now when I go to the Settings, it says the key doesn't work and hence, my machine cannot be activated. I signed-in using my Microsoft account before using the PC.
What the heck! I am an Insider. And didn't expect this to happen. What should I do next? Would the machine get activated itself after some time?
If I understood this : clearly, then does it mean that Windows will activate itself from some Windows activation servers that are somehow written into my hardware even if I do a clean install deleting everything in my Windows partition?
Also, since the built-in "Create a Recovery Drive" will take forever or display an error when ''Backup system files to the recovery drive' is checked", I'm trying to create an Installation media. But I'm stuck with which ISO I should download. Now, there's Windows 10, Windows 10 Single Language, Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Home N. I'm running Windows 10 Home at the moment. Which was upgraded from Windows 8.1(I think there was ''Single Language'' written after "8.1", not sure though). Which Version should I download. And if I install the wrong version by chance, will Windows still activate after I find out and install the right version? Please clarify these.... I'm really looking forward to do a clean-install to get rid of all the errors and bugs with drivers and just start over.
*DETAILS: Windows 10 Home Build 10240 [Upgraded via free upgrade, had an OEM version of Windows 8.1 when first bought]
I can not activate my windows 10,I have done all with the genuine file but it won't activate anyway,could it be that I not upgrade it to w 10?,I did a Clean install directly!
On both my main machines I was running Windows 8.1 and I then removed that and installed the Windows 10 insider program.I kept installing new builds until RTM came along. Once Windows 10 was released I unenrolled from the program and both machines were still activated.
I performed a clean Windows 10 install on one machine and now it is asking for Windows 10 to be activated and I don't have a key - am I basically screwed?
I did a clean install of Windows 10 Pro x64 using the method that everyone knows about by now that was written up on various sites today i.e.:
Ran the Media Creation Tool and upgraded my copy of Window 8.1 Professional with Windows 10 Professional. Looked in Control Panel --> System and it said my copy of Windows was activated. Then I ran the Media Creation Tool again and downloaded the ISO. Burned ISO to DVD. Restarted computer, booted into Windows installer on DVD, customized the install by formatting drive, did a fresh install of Windows 10.
Now when I go into Control Panel --> System it says "Windows not activated". When I click on the Activate Windows icon and click the error details link I get the error code: 0xC004C003.
I should note that the Windows 8 OS came pre-installed on my laptop which I bought brand new. I don't think that matters?
I had a licensed windows 7 PC and did the in-place upgrade to windows 10. However my main hard drive (an SSD) is too small and I want to upgrade it. I understand that if I do a clean install (from an ISO/USB) then windows 10 should still recognise my PC as it was activated.
However, if I change the hard drive (or add memory, add a graphics card etc) does windows still recognise my PC or do I have to go through the stupidty of installing windows 7, installing the service pack, waiting for the inplace upgrade to windows 10, activating, and then wiping everything in order to do a clean install!?!?!
i did the win 10 free upgrade i had to before i could do a clean install. im not having any problems with the upgrade so far but i have always did a clean install of windows before this.
I upgraded from Win 7 pro about a month ago hoping that would cure some problems I had with Win 7. It did not and Win 10 is working poorly too. I would like to do a clean install of Win 10 but not sure if I can get the correct Win 10 install file just from my Win 7 pro product key. Is there a download source for that since I have already upgraded to Win 10?
I got a legit copy of windows 7 and i did the update to windows 10, but my PC seems slow and it seems like there is a lot of junk and left over files... idk, i want to do a clean install, but i dont want to loose my genuine copy of windows. also, i have about 1tb of games installed on a seperate drive off steam. if i clean install and leave that drive as is, will the games still work or will i have to redownload them all?
There is a lot of questioning about making a clean install of windows 10 once you upgraded from Windows 8.1 retail version.
So there it is :
-If you have NEW hardware : So if you want to make a clean install of win 10 on you're new computer (actually it all depend on you're motherboard). You will need to re install windows 8.1 with you're licence that came with (Of course install it on you're new comp). Then you have to make the free upgrade again. In other words you have to restart from 0. And yes you're license is still good for windows 8.1. After the free upgrade win to 10, it will save you're new motherboard with you're microsoft account to the microsoft activation server. Well, its good as long as the upgrades are free (One year from the launch)!
--So for later re install, as long as you don't change you're MotherBoard,you can start from the Win 10 installer and you will not need to enter any license key. You just skip these steps and when you get on the internet and log on to you're microsoft account it will auto detect you're account with you're mobo and activate automatically. In other words, there is no key from free upgraded windows 10
-If you don't have new hardware : Well its very simple, you mobo is already saved with you're microsoft account so you can just install you're win10 from the installer. You do not enter any license keys and it should activate by itself when you connect to internet.
I think its always good to have a retail version for the actual system that we use with a good license key.
Received a MSI laptop with pre-installed W8.1. Planning to install a new SSD on m.2 slot. I have several options to update to W10.
p.s: I am keeping both SSD and HDD in my laptop
1) Clone from old HDD to new SSD using MSI burn recovery. Then update to W10 2) Upgrade to W10 on my old HDD. Get W10 activated. Perform a clean install on SSD. Lastly, format my old HDD as secondary drive
I recently upgraded to windows 10, and decided to do a clean install. So I made a image of my system (when it was windows 8.1), wiped my Hard drive (which still had the original windows 8 install,), and stuck a ios file on a usb stick. However during the install to my SSD (Which is different from my hardrive) the computer asked for a product code, something I do not have, and did not think I needed (my understanding was that windows 10 registered your hardware). If I skip it, it goes though the prossess of installing, but then restarts after finishing moving the files. I dont want to have to attempt to go though the effort of putting windows 8 back on the laptop, moving it over to the ssd, upgrading to windows 10, getting a product key that may or may not work, and trying it again.
Got a sabertooth z77 with two ssd on raid 0 (intel) another hard drive for backups (Regular sata) and another storage card (pciexpress sas highpoint 2720, with raid 5)
Windows 10 doesnt seem to like this.
Even booting the dvd itself its a drag and hr wont recognize the raid 0 not even with drivers (driver load will cause a watchdog blue screen)
Windows 7 and 8 dont mind. At all.
I feel like the csm thingy might have something to do.
Bios is latest. Sas raid is for storage only. Ill search for the manual of the board as the printed one doesnt have the options i got on the screen
I have a laptop that was originally on Windows 8.1. I upgraded it to Windows 10 recently, however there were a variety of deeply embedded issues. I tried every troubleshooting method I could find, tried to revert back to 8.1, and tried to repair and reset Windows 10. Nothing was working, so I had to use installation media from doing a clean install on my PC to install a fresh version of Windows 10 on my laptop.
I was forced to format the hard drive, and delete all the partitions to even get the clean install to work (the upgrade did a real number on my initial system), and because of this I'm now unable to activate Windows 10. The upgrade was the Home edition, and I clean installed the Home N edition (as far as I'm aware there's little to no difference). I made a note of the product key that was listed in the upgraded 10 before the clean install, which I assume was my product key from 8.1 that carried over, as it is 20 characters long and not 25.
Is there any way I can activate my clean installed Windows 10 Home N in this situation?
I did the upgrade on my Laptop from 8.1 to 10, went smoothly everything works so far. Now i have to decide do a reset and do a clean install since i always worry if later there will e a problem, should i safely think if no problems now that if i reformat a clean install that all drivers will be there and everything will be ok. Tomorrow i do my Alienware Aurora R4 desktop and prey it goes well. Then since i have 30 Hard Drives that i will be able to do a network share and be able to see it on my living room TV, will pray.
So I've been using Windows 10 for the past two weeks now. I really dig it, however the hard drive I'm on is slightly slower than my 7200rpm drive which could boot Windows 7 up a lot faster.
I upgraded my Windows 7 installation to this current Windows 10 install and since I want to
1. Sell this current hard drive
and
2. Move to the other hard drive,
I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. I have a large amount of software and important documents installed on this pc.
In the event where I want to clean install to the other hard drive, I don't really want to be tasked with having to reinstall all of this software again, mostly because I don't have installers available for them.
So I guess I want to know what are the benefits to clean installing over upgrading on an already fast hard drive and what would be most convenient in my case if this option is more viable?
I've read differing opinions online over upgrade vs clean install and I want to know what I should do.
Upgraded grand-daughter's pc from 7 to 10. Seemed a bit sluggish running from a spinning HDD so I decided to do a clean install to a SSD using the same USB I had made to upgrade with. Installed just fine but now says the keys don't match and I have to buy a key? Thought the upgrade was tied to your hardware (motherboard/CPU) and a clean install after would be activated?
So I've upgraded from windows 8 to 10, an upgrade not a clean install. Everything went well except the final part. When it said finishing etc. suddenly a black screen came and an error was shown. All I remember from the error was 'terminate the program'. Soon the error was gone and all I was left with was a black screen and the mouse cursor. Now the black screen comes up after the loading screen (the cursor as well).
