HELP! should i activate windows 10?

[Matt1403]

hi,

so about a month ago i built my first ever pc for the os i decided to go with win 10 mainly because its free, so ive had the pc for about a month with little to no promlems exept every so often i need to restart as soon as i boot because of that annoying windows is not activated water mark and the fact i cant customize (ive found a simple reboot fixes both problems for the whole time its on) so ive been thinking about maybe buying a key online.

but before i thought id buy one i thought id just test that i can activate by entering some non genuine keys ive found online (that were confirmed to be working by other users) so ive tried quite a few keys (and entered them in different ways) with no success at all, every time i try im flooded with error codes its like ill solve one error then ill go onto the next one 🙁

so what i wont to know is is there something wrong with my copy of windows ? or is it the actual product keys im using that have been blocked?

because i dont want to pay 100$ for nothing (and from what ive heared Microsoft isnt very helpful when it comes to these matters) or am i better off just not activating as it doesnt really bother me too much and id hate to waste my money

thanks for reading! btw i used the iso file to install windows from a flash drive

 

[Petrossa]

There's nothing wrong with your copy of Windows. It is behaving exactly as it should.
Windows 10 is only free IF you already own a Windows 7/8.1 product with the corresponding product key.
So if you have a valid key you can use that to activate your Windows 10.
If that fails, you will have to install Windows 7/8.1 on your system first, activate it and upgrade from there to Windows 10.
Or you could just purchase a valid Windows 10 key, as mentioned.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/why-activate-windows-10

 

[Matt1403]

There's nothing wrong with your copy of Windows. It is behaving exactly as it should.
Windows 10 is only free IF you already own a Windows 7/8.1 product with the corresponding product key.
So if you have a valid key you can use that to activate your Windows 10.
If that fails, you will have to install Windows 7/8.1 on your system first, activate it and upgrade from there to Windows 10.
Or you could just purchase a valid Windows 10 key, as mentioned.

thanks for your answer but (your personal opinion) do you think i should bother forking out 100+ dollars on a key? and as i said it doesnt bother me too much a simple restart fixes the water mark and the not being able to customize and its not like its illegal lol

thanks again

 

[Petrossa]

Yep, it's always best to go legal. That way you are assured of all the latest updates.
I will admit, I used to run hacked versions on my systems, but since Windows 10 came as a free upgrade, I have legalised.

 

[Matt1403]

Yep, it's always best to go legal. That way you are assured of all the latest updates.
I will admit, I used to run hacked versions on my systems, but since Windows 10 came as a free upgrade, I have legalised.

but is it ilegal to have un activated windows? btw i do get a updates just got notified then lol

 

[Petrossa]

Yes, I suppose it is, till it expires and shuts down on you 😉

 

[Matt1403]

Yes, I suppose it is, till it expires and shuts down on you 😉

what do you mean shuts down on me its the legit iso file from the ms website its just not been activated??

 

[Petrossa]

I may be wrong here, but after a time of non activation Windows might go into a reduced functionality mode or something.
It's not something I've done much research on, so I could be wrong.

 

[Matt1403]

I may be wrong here, but after a time of non activation Windows might go into a reduced functionality mode or something.
It's not something I've done much research on, so I could be wrong.

yeah because i looked into that ALOT before building it said that thats the beauty of win 10 its fully functional windows just the water mark and non customization thing which for me are both solved with restart

 

[Petrossa]

have fun

 

[Matt1403]

have fun

thanks for the info its good to know theres nothing wrong with my win10, i might buy a product key down the road for now im fine with the way its all setup thanks again!

 

[Petrossa]

Anytime.

 

[Zack_28]

Just wanted to say I just built my computer and when I found out you didn't need to buy windows 10 I didn't believe it until I found this. Thanks for saving me $150!

 

[Petrossa]

Sure thing.
Glad I could help

 

[Colif]

Just cause you can doesn't mean you should. There is no guarantees that Microsoft won't put an end date on the unactivated copies. I expect they would if too many people did it. I find its just easier in long run to get a licence, especially now you can move the licence onto a new PC if you want to later.