Lost Activation win11 pro

glasskuter said:

If a device does not have an underlying key stored in UEFI, it's all boils down to the damned MS account now.

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So what do all my devices activate from now? None of them have an MS account.

The digital licence is stored on the MS activation servers and linked to the Hardware ID of the PC.

Linking it in addition to your MS account is an optional extra....

The digital licence is stored on the MS activation servers and linked to the Hardware ID of the PC

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As this thread demonstrates, that is no longer reliable for the free upgrade activations.

Safer to have it linked to ms account, which is useful for ms who are very keen to push people to ms accounts.

Whatever interesting theories Bree has, the fact remains that if you run into a problem then having it linked to an ms acount means support should be able to help. Otherwise you could be up the creek.

Bree said:

So what do all my devices activate from now? None of them have an MS account.

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Just brainstorming and throwing out thoughts here.(and those thoughts are all over the place) You know how I get when I'm just sittin' and thinkin'.

Yes, I know vhdx files have their own activation but to truly test what is happening on Microsoft's end wouldn't one would have to compare apples to apples and use physical installations rather than vhdx files. Who knows how MS sees vhdx activations?

My thinking keeps coming back to the use of a MS account. I think users of 11...who use a local account that originally acquired their digital license from a 7 key will continue to operate fat and happy until they have to do a clean install OR change hardware. That's when they will run into the issue.

Maybe this actually is a current problem on MS activation servers where the previous digital activation tied to the hardware is not being recognized and they will eventually work it out. But it could just as easily be exactly as @SIW2 said, a hard rule change from MS that if activation is re-triggered for whatever reason, MS won't re-activate unless that machine was previously registered to a MS account or an underlying license in UEFI.

the upgrade chain is, it was running smooth.
Win7/8 --> Win 10 -->Win11

A reasonable guess would be, MSFT still allows
Win7/8 --> Win 10, ok (as MSFT agreed initially. but no more. stopped already?)
Win 10 -->Win11, ok (strictly saying, should meet hardware requirement)
But
Win7/8 --> Win 10 -->Win11, NOT ok (a simple reason could be, fail to meet Windows 11's hardware requirement)


Maybe, SIW2 can try Windows 10 activation (given Win7/8 --> Win 10 was ok).

glasskuter said:

Yes, I know vhdx files have their own activation....

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No they don't, not if the OS they contain only has the generic installed key (as all mine do). Whatever you are running Windows from, vhdx, ssd, hdd, if it only has the generic key then it can only activate if the PC it is running on has its own digital licence.

It makes no difference from the activation point of view if you are running Windows from an attached vhdx, or partitions on an SSD/HDD. It's just a lot less screws to undo to move a drive from one PC to another. The digital licence is tied to the PC, not any particular install of an OS. It won't move with an installed OS if you move that to another PC.

siliconbeaver said:

Win 10 -->Win11, ok (strictly saying, should meet hardware requirement)

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I just hope that people don't get banned for having a Windows 10 license before Windows 11 existed.

However, I also got a retail 10 Pro license from Staples in 2021, IIRC. Both licenses are retail, to clarify.

Hi,
Yeah that's messed up
I'm about to swap memory in my laptop and from 16gb to 32gb kits
See if ms pops me to lol

No biggie I can get cheap pro keys new years sells is still going on at tpu

glasskuter said:

Yes, I know vhdx files have their own activation but to truly test what is happening on Microsoft's end wouldn't one would have to compare apples to apples and use physical installations rather than vhdx files. Who knows how MS sees vhdx activations?

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I am sorry but there is no such thing as a vhdx activation.

I think you are referring to a virtual machine for which there is no difference betwen activation of a physical machine.

SIW2 said:

I have tried. It gives a different message but still wont activate.

the moved os declares "hardware change"

a fresh install claims there is no license.

Both pcs have been deactivated.

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Hi,
On that note if you need some new keys these are legit

@SIW2, did you try to install Win 10 to see if it get activated?
(sorry to ask if you have already try on the above posts)

Hi,
Once flagged they usually ban the key.

If 7 key there is no support
8-8.1 same deal although it has support ms likely won't.

glasskuter said:

My thinking keeps coming back to the use of a MS account. I think users of 11...who use a local account that originally acquired their digital license from a 7 key will continue to operate fat and happy until they have to do a clean install OR change hardware. That's when they will run into the issue.

Click to expand...

OK, one final test for you. My Dell Latitude E4310 from 2010 came with OEM 32-bit Windows 7 Professional. This from Dell Support after entering its service tag, its system configuration as shipped...



...and by the time I bought it as a used laptop it had a clean install of 64 bit W7 Pro, activated using the OEM key from its CoA sticker. I then upgraded to Windows 10 to get a digital licence for the laptop. All done with local accounts, no MS accounts involved.





The Latitude E4310 has an HDD that can easily be replaced, just two screws hold it in place and you can slide it out from the side without opening the case. So I slipped in a spare blank SSD. First I imaged it back to 'as received' to get the screenshot above. Then I clean installed Windows 11 23H2 using only a local account.

As expected, it activated from the laptop's existing digital licence.

Hi,
Swapped my memory so it's just a waiting game with ms servers lol

Pretty scummy way to push ms account for sure !
I wouldn't even waste time with calling ms if phone activation failed
I'd just use another 20+-.us pro key.

ThrashZone said:

Swapped my memory so it's just a waiting game with ms servers lol

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Like the hard drive, the RAM plays no part in the hardware ID of a PC. You can change either or both without losing activation.

Kari said:

The Windows 10 and 11 Digital License is based on HWID 3. As long as the Windows edition, motherboard and CPU remain the same, once the computer has been activated, all future clean installs with the same edition on that computer will activate automatically. Note that all HWIDs exclude storage media entirely.

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ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Swapped my memory so it's just a waiting game with ms servers lol

Pretty scummy way to push ms account for sure !
I wouldn't even waste time with calling ms if phone activation failed
I'd just use another 20+-.us pro key.

Click to expand...

Theoretically you should be ok. I havent heard of any problems resulting from changing ram. Some people have reported bios update triggered the problem and many people have updated bios without any problem. Bree has been able to restore an image to different hardware without the nuisance, yet for some moving the os to different machine "hardware change" causes the problem. I dont know why.

SIW2 said:

Bree has been able to restore an image to different hardware without the nuisance, yet for some moving the os to different machine "hardware change" causes the problem. I dont know why.

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I don't know why either, but I suspect failures may be down to using a Microsoft account for the move. My tests have found that the Activation Troubleshooter has been broken since MS dropped the W7/8 free upgrades.

I suspect failures may be down to using a Microsoft account for the move.

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I didnt use a microsoft account for the move.

In addititon some people have tried to activate using the microsoft account and it didnt work
Broken activation troubleshooter was already reported in the articles.
I dont know if MS have fixed it since.

According to several reports, some customers lost activation after changing PC components or performing a BIOS update. The worst part is that the digital licenses connected to their Microsoft Accounts no longer activate the operating system, forcing them to purchase another key or resort to questionable activation methods. It is worth noting that Microsoft Support confirmed that a hardware change should not block a license key.

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In my case there was no physical change to the hardware.

Hi,
Hell do you have the drives labeled hehe
Swapping once is one thing doing it over and over is just asking for trouble.

I've restored system images to another machine but I changed keys as well and sure as hell never had internet until after entering the new key.

I just flashed my bios a second ago guess I'm glutton for punishment with my win-10 pro license I used to get off win-11 home crap version it came with.

ThrashZone said:

I've restored system images to another machine but I changed keys as well...

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Virtually all my machines have the generic key, most got their digital licences by upgrading from 7 or 8. The W7/8 key is not retained, it gets replaced with the appropriate generic key during the upgrade. No need to change my keys, generic keys work on any system that has its own digital licence.