Windows Activation

Runnerbean said:

The activation code on the retail box I purchased has the usual 25 numbers/letters in 5 blocks of 5. When he finally managed to activate windows for me by entering that slew of commands in Command Prompt that I mentioned, I noticed that the last section of 5 digits is different to what's on my retail box. Now when Windows successfully activated the first time around by myself, the last 5 digits were showing as per my retail box.

It looks to me like he gave me a different activation code to what's on my retail box. I can only tell by the last 5 digits because the other 20 digits are hidden/crossed out. I'm seeing a Device Code and a Product Code. The product Code is the one that's different to what I have on the purchased retail.

I asked him what would happen if I needed to do a clean re-install in the future and he told me not to worry and to just use my original code again.

On what screen do you see those Device Code and Product code? Was it something he had up on screen? Are you sure its not Device ID and Product ID?

go to settings > update & security > activation and see if it says activated with a Digital License. If it does, you should be able to clean install without a Product Code. You just click the "I don't have one" and it "should", normally I would say will activate with the Digital License.

Runnerbean said:

Ok,..this is what I'm seeing. This is the Product Key that the Microsoft Tech guy gave me during the remote assistance session using Command Prompt and entering a slew of commands because it was the only way he could get my copy of W10 activated which failed after a clean re-install.

I noticed that the product Key is different to what's on my genuine copy of W10 I purchased retail boxed. Now if I need to do a clean re-install any time soon, what product key do I enter during re-installation? My original key on the retail box or the one show here?

Well that's definitely not a generic key... save it for future use (btw generic PID's usually are in the 00326-10000 ....range)

Runnerbean said:

Sorry,..I'm a bit confused. My PID starts with 00326.

Yes . Home is 00326-1 ... that's known as the GroupID... just saying that the key is formulated with the rest of the PID.

Runnerbean said:

Ok,..this is what I'm seeing. This is the Product Key that the Microsoft Tech guy gave me during the remote assistance session using Command Prompt and entering a slew of commands because it was the only way he could get my copy of W10 activated which failed after a clean re-install.

I noticed that the product Key is different to what's on my genuine copy of W10 I purchased retail boxed. Now if I need to do a clean re-install any time soon, what product key do I enter during re-installation? My original key on the retail box or the one show here?

Where do you go specifically in settings to see that first screen shot? Or is that one you clipped while they were doing what ever it is they did? Sorry to keep on about that, its just that I don't see that. After Activation mine just says "learn More". What build are you running?

Runnerbean said:

Click on Start and select Settings/Update & Security. Then selecting 'Activation' in the left pane.

I'm on Windows 1709 Build 16299.64 (Up-To-Date)

No Product ID or Product Code shown.