Can't activate upon reinstall

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  1. Posts : 62
    Windows 10 Home Edition
       #1

    Reinstall: product key blocked?


    I originally got win10 through the free upgrade from 8.1 and did the install that only replaces system files etc. Some things weren't working correctly such as the sleep function and I kept being unable to login due to the start menu and Cortana not starting, so I decided to do a reset of the OS.
    I managed to reset and get a fresh install of win10 but now I can't get activation to work. I've run all the windows updates and tried the slmgr.vbs /ato command but it says my product key is blocked..what should I do?
    Last edited by arisutan; 25 Aug 2015 at 07:40.
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  2. Posts : 62
    Windows 10 Home Edition
    Thread Starter
       #2

    bumping this
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  3. Posts : 5,833
    Dual boot Windows 10 FCU Pro x 64 & current Insider 10 Pro
       #3

    Hello there, arisutan. Welcome to the forum.

    How did you go about resetting 10?
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  4. Posts : 62
    Windows 10 Home Edition
    Thread Starter
       #4

    HippsieGypsie said:
    Hello there, arisutan. Welcome to the forum.

    How did you go about resetting 10?
    I did it from the settings within Windows, there is a "reset" function. It actually didn't work and failed to boot afterwards and I had to reinstall off a flash drive loaded with a win10 installation ISO.
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  5. Posts : 187
    Windows 10 Pro
       #5

    arisutan said:
    I did it from the settings within Windows, there is a "reset" function. It actually didn't work and failed to boot afterwards and I had to reinstall off a flash drive loaded with a win10 installation ISO.
    Did you use the same version of Windows 10?

    Home/Pro, 32/64-bit, Language (US, UK or other.)

    The clean install has to be done with the exact same version as the Upgrade, or else you won't be able to activate it.
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  6. Posts : 62
    Windows 10 Home Edition
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Rudy Mas said:
    Did you use the same version of Windows 10?

    Home/Pro, 32/64-bit, Language (US, UK or other.)

    The clean install has to be done with the exact same version as the Upgrade, or else you won't be able to activate it.
    I have no idea, I wasn't aware there were different versions...I mean, obviously I kept same bit-version. I didn't know there was a home/pro. I didn't see an option to select that at any point in the download or installation process. I think I had Home Premium windows 8 so does that mean I need home of Windows 10? Am I gonna have to reinstall windows all over again @_@
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  7. Posts : 5,833
    Dual boot Windows 10 FCU Pro x 64 & current Insider 10 Pro
       #7

    arisutan said:
    I did it from the settings within Windows, there is a "reset" function. It actually didn't work and failed to boot afterwards and I had to reinstall off a flash drive loaded with a win10 installation ISO.
    Ok. Where did you get the ISO?
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  8. Posts : 187
    Windows 10 Pro
       #8

    arisutan said:
    I have no idea, I wasn't aware there were different versions...I mean, obviously I kept same bit-version. I didn't know there was a home/pro. I didn't see an option to select that at any point in the download or installation process. I think I had Home Premium windows 8 so does that mean I need home of Windows 10? Am I gonna have to reinstall windows all over again @_@
    Yes, if you had the Home version of 8, you need to upgrade it with the Home version of 10. If you used the Pro version, it won't get activated.

    The only solution here, is going back to your previous version of Windows. (This is an option in Windows 10.)

    Start -> Settings -> Update & Security -> Recovery

    You should see an option to go back to your previous version here. After this, you can re-upgrade with the right version of Windows 10.


    I just read the topic again, and you did a clean install already, then you can't go back, of course.

    You could try to do a clean install with Windows 10 Home, but if you never had an activated version on your system, this probably will not work either.

    Only other option left then, is installing your Windows 8 again, and do the upgrade to 10 again.
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  9. Posts : 2,832
    MS Windows 10 Home
       #9

    arisutan said:
    I originally got win10 through the free upgrade from 8.1 and did the install that only replaces system files etc. Some things weren't working correctly such as the sleep function and I kept being unable to login due to the start menu and Cortana not starting, so I decided to do a reset of the OS.
    I managed to reset and get a fresh install of win10 but now I can't get activation to work. I've run all the windows updates and tried the slmgr.vbs /ato command but it says my product key is blocked..what should I do?
    I have a valid Win 7 Product Key - and my Win 10 system did not accept it when I added it - to authorize my new upgrAde to Win 10.

    Is there any email address or URL available at Microsoft where we are able to check a PRODUCT Key for validity ?

    Thanks, Cliff M. acmanten.
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  10. Posts : 62
    Windows 10 Home Edition
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Rudy Mas said:
    Yes, if you had the Home version of 8, you need to upgrade it with the Home version of 10. If you used the Pro version, it won't get activated.

    The only solution here, is going back to your previous version of Windows. (This is an option in Windows 10.)

    Start -> Settings -> Update & Security -> Recovery

    You should see an option to go back to your previous version here. After this, you can re-upgrade with the right version of Windows 10.


    I just read the topic again, and you did a clean install already, then you can't go back, of course.

    You could try to do a clean install with Windows 10 Home, but if you never had an activated version on your system, this probably will not work either.

    Only other option left then, is installing your Windows 8 again, and do the upgrade to 10 again.
    I had a working and activated version of 10 home for a good while but did a reset because of problems mentioned in OP. I'll try and reinstall with Home and see if it activates... (only assuming it's home since i'm fairly sure thats what my 8.1 was)
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