Windows 10 Activation Issue

Davy49 · 29 Sep 2019

Hi All,
Well, I'll start off by saying I did something rather 'stupid'..yesterday I had the idea to upgrade my wifes older laptop ( Acer Aspire 5250-BZ873 ) to windows 10 from window 7. As most everyone knows that some time the first of next year, microsoft is 'supposedly' going to stop giving security updates to the operating system. I think where I went wrong was previously her laptop came with windows 7 home premium oa edition installed on it, and as I'm quite a bit older now..my memory isn't what it used to be. As I remember though..something happened and I remember asking her if she would like me to update her system from the home edition to the pro edition, she said sure. I have a disc that has windows 7 all edition's on it ( pre-activated ) . So I installed the 64-bit windows 7 pro edition, yesterday when I installed windows 10 on her laptop I used a disc labeled ' windows 10 install media / 32-bit & 64-bit ). I think that's where my issue started..because now windows 10 pro 64- bit edition isn't activated..and of course I don't have a 'valid' 25 digit product key available to get it activated. I'm trying to 'rack' my brain to figure out a way to get past this dilemma..I know there is a method to do so, but my brain hasn't told me how to do it yet. Can someone PLEASE suggest a easy way for me to get in the 'activated' category ?
Thanks,
David

FreeBooter · 29 Sep 2019

You need 25 digit product key number for the edition of Windows 10 you have installed to activate Windows 10.

Superfly · 29 Sep 2019

The pre-activated thing is a bit weird - does the package have Win Pro key?

If so, go to Settings ->Update & Security->Activation->Change Product Key and enter it

I assume this is a Retail Win 7 package I'm not familiair with.

Davy49 · 29 Sep 2019

FreeBooter said:

You need 25 digit product key number for the edition of Windows 10 you have installed to activate Windows 10.

FreeBooter,
Not trying to be rude in any way..I know I need a 'valid' product key, all I have to do is 'find' one at a discounted price.Thanks,
David

NavyLCDR · 29 Sep 2019

"Pre-activated" means an illegal volume license product key included or the illegal KMS activation hack. Most of the "discount" product keys for Windows 10 Pro are also product keys obtained by companies which are supposed to be for the company's use on their own computers and are not supposed to be sold at retail.

Davy49 · 29 Sep 2019

Dear NavyLCDR,
Thanks so much for taking the time to explain that to me..know wonder it doesn't want to activate properly. What would you suggest, without spending a fortune to purchase a key from microsoft ?
David

Bree · 29 Sep 2019

Davy49 said:

What would you suggest, without spending a fortune to purchase a key from microsoft ?

As an OEM Windows laptop, there should be a CoA sticker on it with an OEM key for the original W7 Home edition. If you can still read it then you should be able to clean install W10 Home with that key and activate it. See...

Successfully activated Win10 Using Win7 COA Sticker Key today

Unfortunately you cannot downgrade a W10 Pro install to W10 Home so it would have to be a clean install of W10 Home.

NavyLCDR · 29 Sep 2019

If this install was an in place upgrade from the installed Windows 7 to Windows 10, you can find out information about the original product key by running showkeyplus:

ShowKeyPlus

Superfly · 29 Sep 2019

I missed the "do not have a valid key" bit - the illegit Win 7 Pro media should be incinerated - stick with Home instead.

HeM · 29 Sep 2019

Davy49 said:

...What would you suggest, without spending a fortune to purchase a key from microsoft ?...

Hello @Davy49

Your pre-activated Win 7 installation disc is illegal for all the reasons have been mentioned above but...

Microsoft, because of piracy spreading on Win 7 days and earlier, had wisely decided to offer Win 8 Home and Pro first releases in a very low price (25€ for Pro) for a limited time. That was the time I bought my first legal Windows 8 Pro key, directly from MS, which I use till today (I don't trust all those they sell cheap).

I said "wisely" because piracy brings many problems not only to users but especially to Microsoft, making Win OSs weak on virus and other attacks giving many problems. MS silently continues its policy about piracy, willing to have all users legal, for security reasons.

That's why nowadays it's easy to turn an illegal Win7 installation into a legal Win10 one.
Of course here, in TenForums, we cannot discus about piracy and how to, but you can find out plenty of infos about that on the net.

I wrote all above because I'm just thinking about all those (perhaps millions of) people -like me- who cannot afford the cost of this really excellent Win10 OS and who want to be part of it, as exactly MS should want it too. The cost of Win10 is absolutely prohibitive for all of them (in some countries is a 6 months or a year salary, if they can get it).

And please, do not say that there is also the Linux OS, because all those people don't want to or cannot be gurus just to send an e-mail. They want and they should be part of global community for their own and our good.

PS: I hope, admin won't delete this post because my purpose is not to increase piracy but exactly the opposite, for our security and good OS health.