Activation issue with new SSD installation on Windows 11

I wonder if anyone can offer some suggestions on what may be causing the following issue.

I purchased a new SSD (NVME M2) at the weekend and installed it into my motherboard before performing a fresh install of Windows 11 Home from a newly created USB stick. I've a Digital License and logged in using my MS account details during the installation. However, it didn't automatically activate and any attempts to do so result in Error 0xC004F213 - Troubleshooting doesn't resolve the issue either. It reports back "We weren't able to activate Windows on this device". The "Recently changed hardware" option is no help either. That simply reports "We can't reactivate Windows on this device. Try again later".

Here is the odd part. If I install my old SSD (again, NVME M2) back into the same motherboard and perform a fresh install of Windows 11 using the same USB stick and same MS account, it activates automatically without any issues. I've repeated this behaviour more times than I can count over this weekend. Old SSD: works every time, New SSD: has yet to successfully activate.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? My understanding is the hard drive isn't a factor with digital licenses for Windows 10/11 so why does it seem like Microsoft only wants to install Windows 11 on one of my SSDs? To rule out a hardware problem with the new SSD, I attempted to install Windows 11 on a third SSD. This also failed with the same error.

Any help would be much appreciated. I'm at a loss at this point. Oh and yes, I am 100% certain I'm picking the right version each time (Windows 11 Home). Thank you.

Shouldn't be an issue but with MS systems who can be sure anymore. Instead of doing a clean install just do a Clone of the old drive then see if it boots and shows as activated. If it does THEN do a clean install using the same/new SSD.

One of the things I did earlier in Win7 to Win10 upgrades was to do an inplace upgrade from Win7 to Win10 initially. Then after the update is finished then I'd perform a clean install on the same system. After seeing the occasional Win7 license key not work on a clean Win10 install the 7 --> 10 upgrade seemed to work better for this purpose.

I realize in your case it's not a Win7 --> Win10 upgrade issue but just to highlight how MS works sometimes.

Try running activation troubleshooter.
This troubleshooter will only be available if your copy of Windows 11 isn’t activated.
Sign in as an administrator.

1. Select the Start button, then select Settings > System > Activation > Troubleshoot . The troubleshooter will show Windows can’t be activated on your device.
   
   Open Activation settings
2. Select I changed hardware on this device recently, then select Next.
3. Enter your connected Microsoft account and password, then select Sign in. The troubleshooter will only work with the connected Microsoft account.
4. From the list of devices that are linked to your Microsoft account, select the check box next to This is the device I’m using right now.
5. Select Activate.
   If you don’t see the device you’re using in the list of results, make sure that you signed in using the same Microsoft account you associated with the Windows 11 digital license on your device.

If still no success it's easy to activate by phone

1. Select Start > Settings > System > Activation.
2. Under Activate Windows Now section, select Activate by Phone.

BamaInArk said:

Shouldn't be an issue but with MS systems who can be sure anymore. Instead of doing a clean install just do a Clone of the old drive then see if it boots and shows as activated. If it does THEN do a clean install using the same/new SSD.

One of the things I did earlier in Win7 to Win10 upgrades was to do an inplace upgrade from Win7 to Win10 initially. Then after the update is finished then I'd perform a clean install on the same system. After seeing the occasional Win7 license key not work on a clean Win10 install the 7 --> 10 upgrade seemed to work better for this purpose.

I realize in your case it's not a Win7 --> Win10 upgrade issue but just to highlight how MS works sometimes.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the response and suggestion. The restore from the clone onto my new SSD stated it was activated which looked promising. That's the first time I've seen Windows state it's activated on that drive. So I went ahead and performed a clean install and.... I'm back to unable to activate again. Just to confirm, should I be doing anything in the Devices list at this point such as deleting the entry for the old SSD installation?

glasskuter said:

Try running activation troubleshooter.
This troubleshooter will only be available if your copy of Windows 11 isn’t activated.
Sign in as an administrator.

1. Select the Start button, then select Settings > System > Activation > Troubleshoot . The troubleshooter will show Windows can’t be activated on your device.
   
   Open Activation settings
2. Select I changed hardware on this device recently, then select Next.
3. Enter your connected Microsoft account and password, then select Sign in. The troubleshooter will only work with the connected Microsoft account.
4. From the list of devices that are linked to your Microsoft account, select the check box next to This is the device I’m using right now.
5. Select Activate.
   If you don’t see the device you’re using in the list of results, make sure that you signed in using the same Microsoft account you associated with the Windows 11 digital license on your device.

If still no success it's easy to activate by phone

1. Select Start > Settings > System > Activation.
2. Under Activate Windows Now section, select Activate by Phone.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. Steps 1 to 5 aren't resolving the issue for me. I've never seen my current SSD installation in the list at Step 4, just my previous SSD installation. Ticking that doesn't result in a successful activation.

And my Activation screen has no "Activate Windows Now" section or "Activate by Phone" option. All I see is Activation State, Troubleshoot, Change Product Key, Get Help and Open Store.

See if you can activate with a real person. Here are some old numbers I've used in the past. I can't guarantee they are still good but it would be worth a try. In the past when I had trouble activating the MS reps are really good to help you. It's getting to them that's kind of hard to do.

activation 888 725-1047
support 800 936-5700

I've also been able to contact them by using this site. Select your product and go through the process of entering your issue. Eventually you are given a number to call.

Google seems to think that error relates to the wrong edition of windows being used.

Rollback_Jockey said:

Google seems to think that error relates to the wrong edition of windows being used.

Click to expand...

Yes that's what I discovered too but I'm sure I'm installing Windows 11 Home on both SSDs. And I can verify this on the MS website in the Devices List. Both are set to the same version of Windows 11. I'm baffled at this point. I think I'll try to contact MS as a final option.

How to get a MS telephone number

To activate Windows 11 by phone:

Select Start > Settings > System > Activation.

Under Activate Windows Now section, select Activate by Phone.

Thank you for the responses so far. This forum really is extremely helpful in that regard and I appreciate it.

I'm starting to wonder if I've fallen foul of the recent tightening up of activation rules. My original key dates back to a Windows 7 OEM System Builders copy I bought from New Egg back in 2012 when I built a PC. I subsequently took advantage of the free Windows 10 upgrade path at the time it was offered and switched to Windows 11 as soon as that was available to me. I've reinstalled Windows countless times since without activation issues.

I wonder if my license is no longer considered valid for fresh Windows 10/11 installations and perhaps my old SSD has been given some sort of grace period in the MS system because that's where the license was present and active at the point the recent change was made? It might explain the behaviour I'm seeing. If I need to buy a new copy of Windows 11 then so be it.

I think MS will activate your Windows over the phone if you explain what's happened. I have just activated Win 11 on a laptop bought in 2010 that was running Win 7 starter edition. Win 11 was able to find the embedded key in firmware and that I had later upgraded to Win 8 Pro. The entire disk was wiped before the clean install. Initially I did get a message that the activation servers were unavailable but the next time I tried, minutes later, all was fine.

Collected1 said:

I'm starting to wonder if I've fallen foul of the recent tightening up of activation rules. My original key dates back to a Windows 7 OEM System Builders copy I bought from New Egg back in 2012 when I built a PC. I subsequently took advantage of the free Windows 10 upgrade path at the time it was offered and switched to Windows 11 as soon as that was available to me. I've reinstalled Windows countless times since without activation issues.

Click to expand...

Oh that adds some things to the issue. I had kinda assumed the old Win7 license keys would continue working on already activated systems they just wouldn't allow any NEW activations. You might have discovered a limitation. It was working on the old drive but a clean install it won't. Curious now.

BamaInArk said:

Oh that adds some things to the issue. I had kinda assumed the old Win7 license keys would continue working on already activated systems they just wouldn't allow any NEW activations. You might have discovered a limitation. It was working on the old drive but a clean install it won't. Curious now.

Click to expand...

No, that's not how it works. Once you have activated, even with a Win 7 key, they are not revoking those activations. Once you have a digital license, you can reinstall without difficulties, or at least you should be able to do so.

I'm just reaching here, looking for what might be different between the old SSD and new SSD that could cause possible issues. On the new SSD, are you preparing this disk in the same manner as the working disk? For example, on the disk that works, is it configured as MBR or GPT?

As another test, have you also considered simply cloning the original disk to the new disk?

hsehestedt said:

No, that's not how it works. Once you have activated, even with a Win 7 key, they are not revoking those activations. Once you have a digital license, you can reinstall without difficulties, or at least you should be able to do so.

Click to expand...

That's basically what I said in my post yet the OPs issue might be related somehow.

I've humoured myself with a little experiment this evening. Four SSD drives (2 x NVMe and 2 x SATA). Four identical W11 installations using the same USB stick, same MS account details and same PC. Only one activated... and you guessed it, it's the SSD I'm trying to replace that I've been using for around a year. So I feel somewhat confident in speculating that somewhere in the MS activation servers they've locked my license to that particular SSD.

hsehestedt said:

As another test, have you also considered simply cloning the original disk to the new disk?

Click to expand...

This has worked. I now have an activated Windows 11 on my new SSD. For how long, I'm not sure. But for now it's a solution. Thank you for suggesting it. The mystery remains.

Collected1 said:

I've humoured myself with a little experiment this evening. Four SSD drives (2 x NVMe and 2 x SATA). Four identical W11 installations using the same USB stick, same MS account details and same PC. Only one activated... and you guessed it, it's the SSD I'm trying to replace that I've been using for around a year. So I feel somewhat confident in speculating that somewhere in the MS activation servers they've locked my license to that particular SSD.

This has worked. I now have an activated Windows 11 on my new SSD. For how long, I'm not sure. But for now it's a solution. Thank you for suggesting it. The mystery remains.

Click to expand...

That tells me that me presumption that the drives were configured differently is almost certainly correct. We could examine that if you care to do so, but I won't bore you with the details unless you wish to persue it.

hsehestedt said:

simply cloning the original disk to the new disk?

Click to expand...

That's what I've done twice now'
Did it with the GT73 about 4 years ago and now, with
my newer GE76. Both went without issues.

Open a command prompt with admin and run slmgr /dlv. It would be interesting to see what your results are.

hsehestedt & NavyLCDR: See below. I've attached two sets of screenshots from the SSDs after a full clean reinstall. Let me know if anything jumps out at you as being a cause for concern. I can't spot anything personally but perhaps someone else can. Thank you again for the responses.