[SOLVED] Can't activate windows

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Solution
If you already have Windows 10 then doing a repair install will allow you to keep all files and apps. Take your pick from the following three instruction sets:

Non-Destructive Repair of Windows 10 - Answers to commonly asked questions

Doing an In-place "Upgrade" to Reinstall Windows 10 Keeping Apps/Programs and User Files

How to: Perform a Repair Upgrade Using the Windows 10 ISO file

If you have ever had a legally licensed copy of Windows 10 on a given machine you do not need a license key to reinstall it, either, as the license is linked to the mobo and is already on Microsoft's servers. It will detect that it's dealing with a machine that was already licensed and...

britechguy

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Jul 2, 2019
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If I were you, I would not be using command line commands to try to activate but going through the Windows 10 Interface to do so.

Colif has already mentioned: Settings, Update & Security, Activation Pane, Change Product Key link.

I really have my doubts as to whether a Windows 7 key will be accepted, but the worst that could happen is that it's declined.
 

alfiee

Commendable
Jul 23, 2018
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What is it that you want under Educational that you don't already have under Home?

That is the question you need to be asking yourself. You do lose admin control over many things if you elect to install and activate a centrally administered edition of Windows 10.

Given that you are nowhere near to the "home network" of the educational institution in question, you won't be able to successfully activate using the key you've been given until you are and can connect to it to complete the activation process.
yeah i asked this before but people said that that wouldnt happen
 

britechguy

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Yes, if you want to back up your user data files and/or take a system image you'd need an external drive. It could be a huge-capacity USB thumb drive, but I never recommend these for routine backup/recovery purposes nor for long term storage, but they're fine if the intent is to get yourself through a clean install or repair install.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, who cares one iota about their data, which most people don't give much consideration to until they've lost it, should have long ago acquired a backup drive and instituted a regular backup protocol.

It is an essential part of being a computer user.

And you must have a USB drive of at least 8GB in size on which to create the Windows 10 install media.
 

alfiee

Commendable
Jul 23, 2018
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Yes, if you want to back up your user data files and/or take a system image you'd need an external drive. It could be a huge-capacity USB thumb drive, but I never recommend these for routine backup/recovery purposes nor for long term storage, but they're fine if the intent is to get yourself through a clean install or repair install.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, who cares one iota about their data, which most people don't give much consideration to until they've lost it, should have long ago acquired a backup drive and instituted a regular backup protocol.

It is an essential part of being a computer user.

And you must have a USB drive of at least 8GB in size on which to create the Windows 10 install media.
i have 1 8gb usb stick right now where my pictures save games and other stuff for games are on but i just wanna keep my video / picture / downloads folders i dont really care about the rest
 

britechguy

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You need to have a USB drive for the data you want to back up (whether that's a thumb drive or platter drive) AND a separate one of at least 8GB in size on which the bootable Windows 10 installation media will be created.

In all this time, you've never mentioned what Version and Build of Windows 10 you're currently running. It would be helpful to have this information. Hit the Windows key, immediately type winver, then hit enter.
 

alfiee

Commendable
Jul 23, 2018
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You need to have a USB drive for the data you want to back up (whether that's a thumb drive or platter drive) AND a separate one of at least 8GB in size on which the bootable Windows 10 installation media will be created.

In all this time, you've never mentioned what Version and Build of Windows 10 you're currently running. It would be helpful to have this information. Hit the Windows key, immediately type winver, then hit enter.
I'm using windows 10 home
http://prntscr.com/offhw7
 

britechguy

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Jul 2, 2019
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Well, it looks like you're still on Version 1809, so your "repair" install will be an actual upgrade to Version 1903 update as well. There's nothing wrong with that, and the instructions remain largely the same.

However, to me, if you've got Windows 10 running and are able to boot into it, it's much easier to use the Media Creation Tool to download the ISO file. After that download is complete, simply select the ISO file, bring up the context menu (right click or SHIFT+F10 or Menu Key), choose Mount from the menu, then kick off setup.exe from the File Explorer window where the ISO is mounted as a virtual DVD drive.

It takes way less time than creating a bootable drive and for a functioning Windows 10 system (even if it's not functioning perfectly - hence the reason for a repair/upgrade install) it's just so much faster to mount the ISO file once you have it.
 

alfiee

Commendable
Jul 23, 2018
84
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Well, it looks like you're still on Version 1809, so your "repair" install will be an actual upgrade to Version 1903 update as well. There's nothing wrong with that, and the instructions remain largely the same.

However, to me, if you've got Windows 10 running and are able to boot into it, it's much easier to use the Media Creation Tool to download the ISO file. After that download is complete, simply select the ISO file, bring up the context menu (right click or SHIFT+F10 or Menu Key), choose Mount from the menu, then kick off setup.exe from the File Explorer window where the ISO is mounted as a virtual DVD drive.

It takes way less time than creating a bootable drive and for a functioning Windows 10 system (even if it's not functioning perfectly - hence the reason for a repair/upgrade install) it's just so much faster to mount the ISO file once you have it.
I'm kinda confused do you know of any videos explaining this?
 

britechguy

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Jul 2, 2019
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No I do not.

It could not be more simple, and is discussed in the previously provided instructions.

The Media Creation Tool allows you to download either the ISO file as just the file, or to go straight on through to creating bootable USB media with it. Since you have a functioning Windows 10 system, just download the ISO.

I gave, precisely, the steps you have to follow afterward to run the repair/upgrade install.
 

alfiee

Commendable
Jul 23, 2018
84
1
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Well, it looks like you're still on Version 1809, so your "repair" install will be an actual upgrade to Version 1903 update as well. There's nothing wrong with that, and the instructions remain largely the same.

However, to me, if you've got Windows 10 running and are able to boot into it, it's much easier to use the Media Creation Tool to download the ISO file. After that download is complete, simply select the ISO file, bring up the context menu (right click or SHIFT+F10 or Menu Key), choose Mount from the menu, then kick off setup.exe from the File Explorer window where the ISO is mounted as a virtual DVD drive.

It takes way less time than creating a bootable drive and for a functioning Windows 10 system (even if it's not functioning perfectly - hence the reason for a repair/upgrade install) it's just so much faster to mount the ISO file once you have it.
before doing this i will have to backup my data first tho right?
 

britechguy

Commendable
Jul 2, 2019
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For data files one can use the Windows 10 built in: File History.

For full system image backups Microsoft recommends using a third party solution of your choosing. Many like Macrium Reflect, AOMEI Backupper, and EaseUS To Do Backup. I use the last of these because the user interface is the most approachable, and that's important in both my household and among my client base. All of those listed have a free version as well as paid pro versions. The free versions are just fine for backup and restore, they're just generally not as fast at doing either as the pro equivalents are.

All of the previously mentioned third party utilities can also be used to take user data backups.
 

alfiee

Commendable
Jul 23, 2018
84
1
1,535
For data files one can use the Windows 10 built in: File History.

For full system image backups Microsoft recommends using a third party solution of your choosing. Many like Macrium Reflect, AOMEI Backupper, and EaseUS To Do Backup. I use the last of these because the user interface is the most approachable, and that's important in both my household and among my client base. All of those listed have a free version as well as paid pro versions. The free versions are just fine for backup and restore, they're just generally not as fast at doing either as the pro equivalents are.

All of the previously mentioned third party utilities can also be used to take user data backups.
Thanks for the recommendations ill check them out!
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
what would be the best way to backup my files?
While my procedure here may seem over the top, that could be reduced down to a single external drive:
 

alfiee

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Jul 23, 2018
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While my procedure here may seem over the top, that could be reduced down to a single external drive:
yeah im planning to buy an external hard drive. Do you think 160gb will be enough? since the only thing ill be backing up is my pictures / downloads / videos / documents / save games for some games which atm is under 50gb