Windows only activates with a clean install not from an image restore

Hello
have a question on behalf of my Son, he recently had a problem with Windows not booting, so reinstalled a Macrium Reflect image, unfortunately it refused to activate. He then did a clean install of W10 and using his Windows 7 pro key, which he used previously to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro, it activated immediately. So I assume the digital licence is valid with MS servers. Is there any way of getting the activation to work with his MR image restoration ? I had a similar issue recently, I suggested he try the MR image restore then do an in place repair upgrade, although when I did this it prevented my PC being activated, had to restore a MR image before the W10 repair upgrade then it activated immediately.....on a personal note I actually phoned MS about My issue and all the support lady said was the free upgrade was no longer available, couldn’t get any help at all, support does seem to vary, depending on who you get

Going back to my Sons problem, if the repair upgrade after restoring the MR image doesn’t activate, is there any other option ? Can he install windows 10 maybe, and keep his personal files ? Quite happy t reinstall his Apps.....

If the install is complete, and his data files are present, he could always copy off his personal files and then clean install, then copy back.

Have you tried the Activation trouble shooter.

Use Activation Troubleshooter in Windows 10

Samuria said:

Did he image the whole drive. Includes all partitions if the image is good it should be activated as it's an exact image of the system

Yes he did, but it didn’t.....strangest thing though, he found the HDD was MBR and used the Windows PE disk from this forum, converted to GPT, rebooted and now it’s activated, coincidence ??? Really can’t explain that one....