Windows suddenly deactivated after 5 years due to a hardware change, but none occurred

Hi,

Windows suddenly says my PC is not activated and cites a recent hardware change as the reason. However, I have been using the same PC for at least 5 years (Windows 11 on a local account), and all of my drives have remained the same since then (one secondary internal drive, one external USB drive, and a CD drive).

I re-entered the product key from the backup location in the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform "BackupProductKeyDefault"="..... "), knowing that it is very likely useless since it is a digital license. As expected, the problem persisted. I then reverted to the last restore point, but the issue remains.

Does anyone have an idea what this could be? The problem appeared completely out of the blue, and I have not changed any hardware, despite what Microsoft claims. I bought my license together with the PC. Is it possible that Microsoft "found out" after more than 5 years that my license is not valid (which can never be completely ruled out, even though I bought my PC from a reputable reseller), after validating it for 5 years?

Try Windows activation troubleshooter.

@rogerrabbit

If you don't want to deal with MS you can always get another license, here...

$14.99


I had Win 11 deactivate after a BIOS update on an ASUS board.

Of course, the activation troubleshooter is the first step, but the digital license not being tied to a Microsoft account will probably cause the activation troubleshooter to fail since you are using a retail Gigabyte motherboad. As such, the device would not have an underlying OEM license.
The error you are getting is an indication the original digital license was tied to a volume/MSDN key that has been revoked or a grey market key. These can work for years and then fail when Microsoft revalidates them.

That be the case,IMO the only solution is to purchase a new license.