This started out as a thread, but turned kinda personal and storytell-y, so I've decided to post it here instead. Enjoy my suffering.
So I've gotten a new computer yesterday. Yay! Only problem is, I have a Windows 10 Pro licence tied to my Microsoft account and I've installed Windows 10 Home by mistake. Now, here come the problems.
Windows seems to ignore the fact that I have a Pro licence while I'm running Home, so it refuses to check. Meaning that it says that Windows isn't activated. Alright, fine, I guess. I'll try some things.
Chapter 1: The Activation Troubleshooter
The troubleshooter finds no problems. It tells me that I haven't got a licence for this version of Windows and that I should buy one from the Microsoft Store. It also presents me with a hyperlink about recent hardware changes. It can't do shit with that.
Chapter 2: The Microsoft Store
There's a button on the Windows 10 Pro page where I can input my Pro key. But there's another problem. I don't know what that key is. It's a digital licence tied to my account. And it doesn't check for that.
Chapter 3: Microsoft Tech Support - Non-Indian Edition™
I've decided to use that shiny Get Help button in the Settings app. I've talked to (and left my computer's life in the hands of) two "technicians." Both of them just gave up after some time. Without saying a word, I might add. It actually took me 20 minutes to realize the second one had disconnected. I thought they were just checking something.
Chapter 4: Trying the generic activation keys
So Windows 10 apparently has some "generic activation keys" you can use for whatever reason. They won't net you an activated OS for free, but I was told I could use the one for Windows 10 Pro to upgrade my Windows 10 Home with, at which point it should detect my digital licence.
I punched the key into the Enter a Product Key dialogue and it asked me if I wanted to upgrade to Pro. “Finally,” I thought. “It's finally over.”
Oh, how wrong I was.
It started the upgrade, hung at 0% for 2 seconds, then gave me an error saying I don't have a digital licence. Fuck.
Chapter 5: The Media Creation Tool
At this point I remembered that when I was installing Windows for the first time on this computer, it asked me what edition I want to install, and that there was an option to keep your files and settings. I've rebooted to the installer immediately, selected Windows 10 Pro, and chose the option to upgrade while retaining my stuff.
An error again. Well, just some info, really. I was told that if I already have Windows installed, I need to reboot into the OS and run the exe instead. But here's the kicker. If you do that, it doesn't ask you what version you want to install. It just tells you it's about to reinstall Windows 10 Home for you.
Chapter 6: Pirated keys I found online
I've tried inputting some of them. The ones that didn't get rejected right away just netted me an error (0x8007007B) saying it can't connect to my organisation's server to activate for some reason. The last one also seems to have fucked with the system in some way, because I can't remove it with slmgr -upk. The moment I run the Activation Troubleshooter, it reappears for some reason.
Also, with this key installed, the Microsoft Store is telling me that I'm not running genuine Windows 10 and presents me with a link to get genuine Windows 10, but all that does is reload the same page. Terrific.
I've ran out of ideas. I don't want to format this PC and reinstall Windows from scratch. Getting all the drivers and reinstalling my programs was a pain in the ass. Having to do all that again wouldn't be very fun, but I'm starting to think that's about the only option I have left. For now, though, I'm too tired to do that. I'll turn in for the day and see if I have the willpower tomorrow.
*sigh*
EDIT:
Chapter 7: Using the generic Pro key offline
@tech3475 had the idea that I should try using the generic key offline. So that's what I did. And it worked! ...Kinda.
While I was able to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro (finally!), I'm still having activation problems.
Now I'm getting error 0x803F7001, which is funny, because this PC didn't have a previous version of Windows installed at all.
The Activation Troubleshooter just says that “We weren't able to activate Windows on this computer. You can activate this device by going to the Store and purchasing a genuine copy of Windows.” There is also an "I've recently changed hardware on this device" button. If I click that, I am presented with a list of a single item, which is another computer I'm signed into which does have Windows 10 activated. I'm guessing I should convince the activator that I'm using that computer by checking this here checkbox and pressing that there button, but if I do that, I just get this error: “We can't reactivate Windows on this device. Try again later.”
The Store still asks me to either buy a new licence for £219.99 or enter a key. Which, again, I don't know.
EDIT 2:
Chapter 8: The End?
Following @Idontknowwhattoputhere's advice, I've downloaded and ran HWIDGEN. It seems to have worked (fucking finally).
I hope this wasn't a virus, lol
So I've gotten a new computer yesterday. Yay! Only problem is, I have a Windows 10 Pro licence tied to my Microsoft account and I've installed Windows 10 Home by mistake. Now, here come the problems.
Windows seems to ignore the fact that I have a Pro licence while I'm running Home, so it refuses to check. Meaning that it says that Windows isn't activated. Alright, fine, I guess. I'll try some things.
Chapter 1: The Activation Troubleshooter
The troubleshooter finds no problems. It tells me that I haven't got a licence for this version of Windows and that I should buy one from the Microsoft Store. It also presents me with a hyperlink about recent hardware changes. It can't do shit with that.
Chapter 2: The Microsoft Store
There's a button on the Windows 10 Pro page where I can input my Pro key. But there's another problem. I don't know what that key is. It's a digital licence tied to my account. And it doesn't check for that.
Chapter 3: Microsoft Tech Support - Non-Indian Edition™
I've decided to use that shiny Get Help button in the Settings app. I've talked to (and left my computer's life in the hands of) two "technicians." Both of them just gave up after some time. Without saying a word, I might add. It actually took me 20 minutes to realize the second one had disconnected. I thought they were just checking something.
Chapter 4: Trying the generic activation keys
So Windows 10 apparently has some "generic activation keys" you can use for whatever reason. They won't net you an activated OS for free, but I was told I could use the one for Windows 10 Pro to upgrade my Windows 10 Home with, at which point it should detect my digital licence.
I punched the key into the Enter a Product Key dialogue and it asked me if I wanted to upgrade to Pro. “Finally,” I thought. “It's finally over.”
Oh, how wrong I was.
It started the upgrade, hung at 0% for 2 seconds, then gave me an error saying I don't have a digital licence. Fuck.
Chapter 5: The Media Creation Tool
At this point I remembered that when I was installing Windows for the first time on this computer, it asked me what edition I want to install, and that there was an option to keep your files and settings. I've rebooted to the installer immediately, selected Windows 10 Pro, and chose the option to upgrade while retaining my stuff.
An error again. Well, just some info, really. I was told that if I already have Windows installed, I need to reboot into the OS and run the exe instead. But here's the kicker. If you do that, it doesn't ask you what version you want to install. It just tells you it's about to reinstall Windows 10 Home for you.
Chapter 6: Pirated keys I found online
I've tried inputting some of them. The ones that didn't get rejected right away just netted me an error (0x8007007B) saying it can't connect to my organisation's server to activate for some reason. The last one also seems to have fucked with the system in some way, because I can't remove it with slmgr -upk. The moment I run the Activation Troubleshooter, it reappears for some reason.
Also, with this key installed, the Microsoft Store is telling me that I'm not running genuine Windows 10 and presents me with a link to get genuine Windows 10, but all that does is reload the same page. Terrific.
I've ran out of ideas. I don't want to format this PC and reinstall Windows from scratch. Getting all the drivers and reinstalling my programs was a pain in the ass. Having to do all that again wouldn't be very fun, but I'm starting to think that's about the only option I have left. For now, though, I'm too tired to do that. I'll turn in for the day and see if I have the willpower tomorrow.
*sigh*
EDIT:
Chapter 7: Using the generic Pro key offline
@tech3475 had the idea that I should try using the generic key offline. So that's what I did. And it worked! ...Kinda.
While I was able to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro (finally!), I'm still having activation problems.
Now I'm getting error 0x803F7001, which is funny, because this PC didn't have a previous version of Windows installed at all.
The Activation Troubleshooter just says that “We weren't able to activate Windows on this computer. You can activate this device by going to the Store and purchasing a genuine copy of Windows.” There is also an "I've recently changed hardware on this device" button. If I click that, I am presented with a list of a single item, which is another computer I'm signed into which does have Windows 10 activated. I'm guessing I should convince the activator that I'm using that computer by checking this here checkbox and pressing that there button, but if I do that, I just get this error: “We can't reactivate Windows on this device. Try again later.”
The Store still asks me to either buy a new licence for £219.99 or enter a key. Which, again, I don't know.
EDIT 2:
Chapter 8: The End?
Following @Idontknowwhattoputhere's advice, I've downloaded and ran HWIDGEN. It seems to have worked (fucking finally).
I hope this wasn't a virus, lol
