Win 10 not activating with Win 8 key? Should this work?

So the story goes; my motherboard gave up the ghost on my old system so I have basically built a new system. I installed Win 8.1 pro on it as this is what I was previously using and quickly realised that my new hardware did not support earlier than Win 10. I had no internet access so I used an old laptop to get a USB bootable of Win 10 pro.

When I installed Win 10 pro it accepted my key for Win 8 Pro and let me sign in with my live ID. It has now come up though saying it needs activation. Activation error 0xC004F050. Is there anyway that I can get this to activate without having to go back to Win 8.1 and upgrading to Win 10? I have already installed everything and got it nearly just the way I like it. Would really suck to have to go all the way back to a fresh install again.

Just to be clear I have a genuine working key for Win 8 pro.

Any suggestions please?

Welcome to the forum. THis may be related to the problem were a lot of win10 pro acivations were killed by MS servers https://support.microsoft.com/en-ph/...ror-0xc004f050

Welcome to TenForums @GoldenLeaf

As Samuria says, there were problems with the activation servers and the did relate specifically to Pro.
MSFT acknowledges some Win10 Pro licenses being mistakenly deactivated - Windows 10 Forums

Those problems are supposed to have been fixed, but there may be lingering issues still. Your activation error 0xC004F050 could just mean the servers were busy/unavailable.
Microsoft | Windows 10 activation error 0xC004F050

Very recently a user who wanted to switch out of S Mode (which I would expect involves the activation servers) had to try for days before it worked.

...I went to the app store again this morning to change from s mode clicked try again about 15 times if not more and it just worked...

How to run apps not verified by my pc!! - Page 2 - Windows 10 Forums

Open a command prompt and try the command slmgr /ato which is a command to activate Windows.

Thanks for the info. If I try that command I get this.



So my Win 8 pro key should in theory work when entered on Win 10 pro for activation?

Try
slui 4

See if it lets you activate by phone.

NavyLCDR said:

Try
slui 4

See if it lets you activate by phone.

I called and they text me the link to enter the installation ID but it said it couldn't validate the installation ID. When I did 'connect me to an answer desk agent' it said it couldn't due to system maintenance.

GoldenLeaf said:

Thanks for the info. If I try that command I get this.

That may not necessarily be an accurate error message, it also seems to be a generic fallback message if the activation servers aren't responding. I got exactly the same error during the activation server issues on a system that now says it is activated.

My test machine (System Two in my specs) has (had?) a digital licence obtained by upgrading from its OEM-installed W7 Pro ... slmgr /ato says 'Error 0xC004C003 The activation server determined the specified product key is blocked' which is odd, as it uses the generic -3V66T key

MSFT acknowledges some Win10 Pro licenses being mistakenly deactivated - Page 2 - Windows 10 Forums

@Bree So you think I should keep trying to activate? Or do I need to re-install 8.1 and upgrade?

I think it is worth waiting for a while and retrying, say until after MS get back to work on Monday (9am in Redmond, Washington is 5pm UK time).

If you can install 8.1 Pro and it activates that can then be upgraded to 10 and will generate a digital licence for W10 Pro on the activation servers, linked to the hardware ID of your PC. Wait for W10 to say it's activated with a digital licence then you could, if you wished, do a clean install of W10 Pro, skipping entering a key when asked. It will activate from the existing digital licence.

Bree said:

I think it is worth waiting for a while and retrying, say until after MS get back to work on Monday (9am in Redmond, Washington is 5pm UK time).

If you can install 8.1 Pro and it activates that can then be upgraded to 10 and will generate a digital licence for W10 Pro on the activation servers, linked to the hardware ID of your PC. Wait for W10 to say it's activated with a digital licence then you could, if you wished, do a clean install of W10 Pro, skipping entering a key when asked. It will activate from the existing digital licence.

*Thumbs Up*