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#1
Re-activation window causes disaster
I'm writing for a relative. She was online in the Hewlett Packard forum regarding her printer. Suddenly her screen turns a 2-tone blue and a window opens on the screen telling her Since Windows was first activated on this computer the hardware on the computer has changed significantly. Due to these changes Windows must be reactivated within 3 days. do you want to reactivate Windows now. Yes or No There have been no changes made to her printer other than reinstalling her printer, and a Windows update. I think she said it was either on 5/13 or today, 5/15.
She forced shutdown -- a number of times. It reacted in various ways, including opening as XP, as Win 7, and as Windows 10. When it opened as Win 10 she went to Settings/Update & Security/Activation and it showed that Windows was activated. She then went to System Restore and clicked on it; it just went round and round and never opened and suddenly a new screen opened with information about reactivating. This time it was the whole screen, not just a window on top of the blue screen. She selected "yes" this time; it did not activate, but gave her options to retry, remind me later or do it by phone.
She went through the reactivation by phone and ended up with Windows XP. Now what can she do to get her Windows 10 back? Her copy of Windows 10 was through the free offer from Microsoft. At the time she upgraded she had Windows 7. Why would it revert back to XP?