Windows activation not responding

Find your Windows product key. If you're unable to activate Windows 10, the Activation troubleshooter could help. The Troubleshoot option is available only if your copy of Windows 10 Version or later isn't activated. Read the instructions on how to use the tool to create installation media for Windows 10 Home and how to do a clean installation. During setup for Windows 10 Home, you'll be asked to enter a product key.

Because you already have a digital license for Windows 10 Home, you can skip this step and continue with the installation. A Windows 10 digital license is associated with your device. For help resolving this issue, see Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change. Activate Windows Windows 10 More Open Troubleshoot settings You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

You have a digital license for Windows 11 Pro, but Windows 11 Home is installed. To activate using your digital license, you'll need to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro: Save your work and close any open apps. In the troubleshooter, select Upgrade to Windows 11 Pro. You have a digital license for Windows 11 Home, but Windows 11 Pro is installed.

To activate using your digital license, you'll need to install Windows 11 Home: Go to the media creation tool page. You have a digital license for Windows, but it hasn't been activated. Related topics Activate Windows Find your Windows product key.

If it is counterfeit, you must buy a new copy of Windows. Ask the seller for the original Windows DVD and product key. If the DVD and product key aren't available, or if you tried them and still can't activate your PC, you must buy a new product key or another copy of Windows.

If you made substantial hardware changes to your PC, such as replacing your hard drive or motherboard, Windows might no longer be activated.

For Windows 10 and 11, you can add your Microsoft account to help you reactivate Windows after making a hardware change.

Activate Windows. Get help with Windows activation errors. Activate Windows 7 or 8. Find your Windows product key. Windows 10 Windows 7 Windows 8. A different product key or version of Windows was used during repair. Thanks for the ideas. But none worked. I did mess with the partitions right after the install, reclaiming the "recovery partition" and moving the "EFI System partition to the front of the SDD.

Windows booted fine, so I thought I was good. I should have tried activation much sooner then after putting a full day work into building up the machine. When you said none worked, not even the repair upgrade? Because thats basically reinstalling Windows 10 without deleting your applications or files. In reply to Andre Da Costa's post on August 9, When I read your word "repair" I first decided to "boot up" using the installation DVD and ran that repair tool.

Of course that didn't help as it is looking to fix a system that is having boot problems. Then I finally ran setup. Thanks for pointing the way. To confirm that, follow these steps.

After hitting the Enter button, a popup window appears showing the expiration date. If it shows The machine is permanently activated , move on to the next point.

There are mainly two types of activation keys — you purchase and activate your copy of Windows, and two, your hardware manufacturer installs a product key. If you purchase a pre-activated Windows laptop or even a desktop computer, it will come with an OEM key. OEM keys are device-locked or device-specific product keys, and they do not work on any other system.

They are not transferrable in case you decide to sell your laptop and buy another. If you try that, there is a chance of getting such an issue. This dedicated Windows 10 activation Troubleshooter helps when you change your hardware hard disk, motherboard, etc.

Also, there might be some other reasons why your computer cannot get activated automatically, like a bug. To fix all such problems, we recommend running the corresponding troubleshooter. It shows some instructions according to your issue. However, one thing is common in every troubleshooting tip, and it helps when you replace hardware. If you previously added the Microsoft account to use the digital license and got some internal issue, it is recommended to remove the laptop or desktop from your Microsoft account and try to reactivate Windows Find the device which is throwing the activation issue, and click the corresponding Show details or Manage option.