Windows 10 Activation Key

[fairfax]

Downloaded but now being asked for activation key which they did not give me.anyone help please.

[-Talbot-]

I have not been asked for any activation key

[Togo]

There is no activation key with windows 10. If you have problems in the future w10 recognises your hardware and knows that you are not trying to clone. Was you previous system true or did you inherit it.

[fairfax]

genuine windows7 came with laptop when bought new,so why is it asking for this key?

[Togo]

Don't know Fairfax. Try putting in the original w7 if you have it ( I know not likely). Can you just ignore the request or try putting in random s--t to see if it moves on.

[Buenchico]

If the firm that you sold you the laptop installed the same copy of Windows 7 onto another computer it's possible that Windows 10 has already been activated on that computer, blocking it from being activated on yours.

In the first instance though, go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Activation and then click on 'Go to Store'. That will tell you whether there's a licence available.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/why-activate-windows-10

[Togo]

is there any program that can verify windows keys?

Yes, Windows 7 can verify if the keys are genuine. You could also try calling Microsoft and see if they will tell you.

For the correct number:
1. Click Start, then in the Search box type: slui.exe 4
2. Press Enter on your Keyboard
3. Select your Country.
4. Select the Phone Activation option, then call and hold for a real person.


This may help Fairfax.

[fairfax]

have re installed windows 7 will try again with 10 if offered again.

[Tuvok]

I fixed a neighbours computer that came preinstalled with Vista (or was it Win7)

The licence key sticker was included.

However, as they had massed produced the laptop the installed version did not have the same licence key as stated on the sticker.

Trying to do a repair install with my disks (same version) and the sticker number, the number was not recognised!

Bet a lot of people might get caught out with a similar setup.

[Jackdaw33]

I have just upgraded from W 8 to W 10. If I had known it was going to take 90 minutes I wouldn't have bothered. In addition my screen is far too bright. I have tried to change it using the f3 button but moving the slide makes no difference. I should have known better, stick with the devil you know.

[VHG]

Fairfax, were you doing an upgrade to Windows 10 or a clean install?

If you do the W10 upgrade it should not need an activation key, but if you have made a CD/DVD and are doing a W10 clean install it WILL ask for the activation key (and NOT the W7 one).

When you do a W10 upgrade details of your hardware and your activation key are held on the Microsoft servers. Then if you do a W10 clean install at a later date Microsoft already know about your hardware and your activation key.

So you MUST do the W10 upgrade first to get yourself registered on the MS servers, THEN you can do a clean W10 install later.

[Hypognosis]

I didn't get best answer, for my troubles, but I did raise the issue of Windows activation/validation issues in the previous incarnation of this thread:-

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Technology/Question1439485.html

I'm not sure if it is a *third* hoop to jump through or just another name for validation but there was a thing which arrived care of Microsoft Update website, called "Windows Genuine Advantage", which I would rather subtitle as "Is this copy of Windows legitimate?"

Again, I am not intenting to cast aspertions on people but I'm getting the feeling that this 'freebie' upgrade has the side effect of embarassing anyone who has ever been palmed off with cloned/counterfeit copies of Windows Master discs, anywhere between XP and Win 8.

[Hypognosis]

@Tuvok

//
The licence key sticker was included.

However, as they had massed produced the laptop the installed version did not have the same licence key as stated on the sticker.
//

I accept the truth of your account of what transpired but something wrong has happened there. If you buy a mass-produced "OEM" computer, the sticker on it should, nevertheless, carry a serial number which is *unique* to that box.

It should have hologram-like irridescence to parts of it and complex anti-counterfeiting graphics, like a banknote.

If it looks like a photocopy of a hologram/banknote then it has to be phoney.

Another possibility is that the sticker on the box relates to the version of Windows installed *at the time the hardware was first sold*. Could have been Vista. Could have been Win XP. Whatever the situation, it was evidently not the edition of Windows installed on the machine when your neighbour came to you for assistance. Those labels are firmly glued on and I'd rather leave it in place than have an ugly, scratched, mess where it used to be.


As general advice to anyone, if you are buying a computer second-hand, you should try to get the vendor to part company with the Windows Master disks, ideally, still with the original box, which carries the counterfoil to that serial number sticker.

[Hypognosis]

@Tuvok

//
Trying to do a repair install with my disks (same version) and the sticker number, the number was not recognised!
//

Well, of course not. The serial number for YOUR disks is embedded within the data written onto it. Each Windows master CD carries the unique serial number, to match the security label. Your Windows serial number is indelibly marked on your neighbour's hard drive. When S/HE connects to Windows Update and it interrogates their machine and sees a serial number which their database has recorded as already having upgraded or activated & validated then it will treat it as an unauthorised copy incident.

I hesitate to say that it is traceable to you. There will be millions of incidences for them to deal with and knobbling the upgrade path is sufficient retribution and a highly cost effective method of making their presence felt.

So, don't "help" others by installing copies of what you've paid for on their machine, as it could backfire on you.