#2. My experience is a Password to log onto Win10 is first needed then a PIN number can be assigned, some of my computers are set that way. If the PIN is removed in User Accounts it then reverts to needing only the initial Password requirement.
Thanks for the info. It was only ever a minor annoyance to me. I still resent the added complexity because it's yet something else that can go wrong, and what can go wrong, will. With my W7 i need no passwords, PIN's, user accounts etc. A trifling matter in itself, but multiplied many times (Windoze's clunkiness and opposite of simplicity) and it isn't so minor any more.
[ I can see i've annoyed you, and other W10 fans. Sorry, but the reason i wrote is not insincere, as you imply- it's that i was hoping i was wrong.
But the activation problem and online dependence are both real.
Well, you need a User Account with Windows XP, 7 and 10. The account may just be named Owner or your Name, but you have to have a User Account to store your personal files. (ie) Documents, Pictures etc.Or you are logging in as the hidden Administrator, which is no good.With my W7 i need no passwords, PIN's, user accounts etc.
You also don't need to use a Microsoft Account and or Pin. You can create a Local (offline) Account. You then can set this up without a Password or with one and log in automatically, without being prompted for a password, that's what I do.
I use a Microsoft Account but I have it setup to login automatically too.
I also have a local account, but I never use it.
There is no activation problem.I clone to two hdd's every week almost since win10 started,using Macrium.
Never had one problem.
Could you please explain precisely how you clone and what errors you get..Reliability history is a good starting point.
I'll take your word for it. My point was that i don't need to input any special codes, numbers or passwords to access my W7. Can we move on?
Sorry, but you *assumed* i was talking about cloning. I wasn't. I spoke only about taking out one hard drive (in a 2 HD system), replacing it with another (leaving my original C:/ OS drive in place), rebooting, and then seeing the "You Must Reactivate W10" flag.
If you tell me that it was a fluke, a one-off, ok, great. In that case i'll retry W10.
But so far, and others in my town report similar experiences- it seems that W10 has stronger security, and trip-wires users making legitimate minor hardware changes.
Without home internet, that's a disaster, totally unacceptable.
If you didn't replace the drive Windows 10 booted from then it wouldn't care at all, unless the drive the OS is on is not the drive it is booting from, which is sometime the case in a multi-drive system.
If you would like some help figuring out what is going on, swap the drives again and see if it happens. If so then post a screen capture of a full screen Disk Management window with all fields expanded so everything can be seen.
"It wouldn't care at all." But but my downloaded copy of W10 (installed onto blank HD) DID. Sorry about that, but it is what is.
If W10 wasn't so internet-dependent, lacking in incentives (i'd love its new dark theme but that alone doesn't make sufficient motivation) and if this deactivation problem had a better chance of being fixed, i'd go thru the whole frigging mess again. Last, I've had so many problems with Microsh*t products that my trust/benefit-of-doubt evaporated long ago. I thank everybody who troubled to respond but there are reasons why W7 is still a serious competitor to W10.
I declare this thread closed.
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