Key Activation Error 0xC004C003

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D4ggerfall

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Jul 9, 2015
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Today I upraded from Win7 to Win10 via the Windows update thing in Win7. I wanted to check if everything ran fine, but i wanted to get a clean isntall. When i was done upgrading i checked my Key via Magic Jelly Bean Keyfinder. I then formatted my C: drive and did a clean isntall via a USB stick. When I was done installing I tried to activate windows with the key i extracted and got the Error 0xC004C003. Is there any solution to this? Alternatively would my Windows 7 key still work?
 

Samat

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Did you check that Windows 10 actually activated before you went for the clean install (there have been problems with this due to the activation servers being heavily loaded, and not all activations have gone through on the first time). Also did you use a microsoft account to logon (someone said their clean install activated after logging on with their ms account)? If the upgrade went through your Windows 7 key won't be legit anymore. If there is a problem your only option might be to call microsoft support.
 

D4ggerfall

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Yes it activated. I checked when i extracted the key. I didn't create a microsoft account until after the win10 installation. Guess i'll have to call microsoft support then. Thanks for the reply.
 

jkteddy77

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If your Windows 10 product key ends in '8HVX7' like mine is, we might still be in plenty of trouble.
If this is indeed a generic key (no coincidence both of ours and everyone else with this issue has these same last digits of as well) I believe we are indeed screwed.

I called Microsoft.
Apparently, after you upgraded from your old OS, you were supposed to go into the Activation settings and manually hit the activate button, or wait and make sure that windows automatically activated (which it didn't for most people, there is a 24-48 hour waiting period it takes to verify you I guess) . Your Windows 10 product key is tied to your mobo's BIOS, and this activation is what triggered that pairing...
If you were like me and you thought Windows was smarter than that, you took that generic key given before manual activation and tried to use it on a brand new clean installation.
You were also to NOT enter a product key during the Windows 10 clean installation, and were to wait until you got into the Desktop to later activate it... I fell victim to that as well.

I was first told to wait 24-48 hours too, but I quickly realized I just had a generic key now and that everyone who properly activated their upgraded install no longer has this issue on their new clean install.

I was told I would NOT get a unblocked key unless I reinstalled my valid version of Windows 8.1, updated it all the way until the latest update, and then upgraded to Windows 10 AGAIN. Then manually activated it in the upgraded 10 installation's settings.
Then I would have to have clean installed onto the PC, without activating until I got the the desktop and activated it in the settings manually. I'm assuming there is no other product key and that it would read your BIOS. It should be activated by now, and It sounds like I did it wrong, as I tried just using the product key with jelly bean as well.

So yeah, My only hope is that I can do this all over again on another Hard drive.
From 8.1 (with an eternity of the latest updates installed)>windows 10 upgrade > activate > possibly copy key if it's different > use that key or wait for BIOS confirmation on my current 10 installation.
Even then, it may require a brand new clean installation that skipped the key entry in the first few steps, so going through all of this still may be a bust for my current clean install...

What the actual F\/<k Windows? Thanks for the guidance. They're unforgiving too, this is the only way to do it, no freebie product keys from support.
Time to grab either a $20 HDD and waste 4-5 hours doing this all over again or pay up $119.99 for a windows 10 license...

If you fixed this another method, or yours already activated somehow, please let me know.
 

D4ggerfall

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Hey, thanks for the Reply. Man that really sucks. Looks like i havve the generic key too. Now i just have to hope that my win7 key still works. I'm not home right now so i can't see if it already activated automatically. I'll report back when i'm home in one week. Guess i'll try the solution you mentioned if it didn't activate.
 

D4ggerfall

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Hey, It's me again. So, I actually went through the trouble of re-installing Windows 7 again, installing ALL updates, doing the upgrade to windows 10 again and then clean installing windows 10. But everything seems to work fine now. I skipped all prompts to enter a key and it activated automatically.
 


I did an upgrade from Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10 Pro on July 29th and it activated.
July 6, I did booted with a USB to do a clean installation, and not I'm at the Error code: 0xC004C003.
There isn't a button to click on "Activate" like there was after the upgrade from Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10 Pro
How long did the activation take after your Clean installation?
 

D4ggerfall

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Mine activated instantly once i finished installing. You can try spamming the activate button since that worked for some people. You can call MS support if it still doesn't work. If everything fails, some people said they have to do what i did and reinstall their old windows again, upgrade and then clean install all over again. Best of luck to you.
 
I did the upgrade and it activated Windows 10.
I waited one week after I did the upgrade and did a clean installation on the same computer.
The activate button never showed once I did the clean installation. It just gave me an option to "change key" because it was invalid because of the 003 error code
After 48 hours, I wiped everything again and did a clean install of Windows 8.1 using my Windows 8.0 key. Windows 8.1 activated.
Windows 8.1 did two or three small Windows Updates, and then prompted me within Windows Update to Upgrade to Windows 10, so I did. While downloading within Windows Update. it showed that it displayed the message that it was downloading Windows 10 Technical Preview. I cancelled that and did the in-place upgrade with Windows 10 on a USB stick created by the Media Creation Tool. That installed fine and activated.

Now I'm seeing that tons of people are having problems with activating clean installations even though they did the proper Upgrade to Windows 10 first. I'm hesitant to try again.
 

jkteddy77

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There's 3 common things I see go wrong (and I messed up all 3 while clean installing onto two computers multiple times)
1. Make sure the USB Boot Media you make for your install is 64bit Home or 64bit Pro, depending on your old version
If you're on 7/8.1 Pro, you MUST go to 10 Pro, 10 Home won't activate. To recreate your Boot USB, rerun the Microsoft Tool and make sure you select the right option and recreate the USB.
2. DO NOT enter a Code when it asks you to during Installation, even the generic key. If you do, the OS will not attempt to analyze and verify your computer for activation. It will always be waiting for an actual product key.
3. Make sure you're actually activated before clean Installing. This is the easiest one to keep track of. It really sucks having to reinstall 8.1, install 138 windows updates, and then upgrade to 10 before being able to clean install 10 again... ( I would know...)

And I know others are getting this error even when they do the above correctly.
Hope I helped at least someone, so nobody else here has to install Windows 11 times in one week like I had to...
 

Trkkr19

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To everyone reading this, even if you haven't tried any other methods of activating, if you've clean installed and it's not activating this might be the quickest way to get you going. I'd been trying for weeks to get my clean install to activate. Tried everything under the sun to no avail. Windows 8 with MS account activated with all updates, Windows 10 in-place upgrade with MS account and all updates - activated, clean install Windows 10 with MS account - error. To save yourself a ton of time and frustration follow these instructions:

1. Go to https://partner.support.services.microsoft.com/en-us/contact/chat/30/ (not sure if that's the totally right link but that's the last URL I was at to get my fix). You'll need to login with your Microsoft Account.
2. That will take you to an Online Chat with a 'Microsoft Answer Tech'.I did this on Saturday afternoon. I eventually got connected to 'Jagannatha V',
3. I told him I was unable to activate a Clean install of Windows 10, how I'd done it on 3 other notebook successfully so I know my process works, etc. He asked for my Windows 8 key (mine was integrated into the BIOS so I had to use a program to get it. I used Method 1 from here: https://itsolutionsblog.net/3-ways-to-extract-the-windows-8-product-key/)
4. After he 'validated it' he asked for PoP. I told him it was preinstalled on my notebook but I could give him PoP of the notebook. Not sure why he needed it but he asked for it and I gave him the Sales Order # of my notebook (MSI purchased through Xotic PC if anyone's interested).
5. After that he asked for, and I gave him, remote access to my notebook.
6. He connected in provided me a new Windows 10 key, put it in a Notepad document (which I later saved) and activated it. No fuss, no muss.

I lost probably 20+ hours of my life trying to get this thing to activate and it took that guy 30 minutes to get me going (maybe an hour all in with the wait time to talk to someone). I don't see any restrictions or 'catches' with this method. I gave the guy truthful answers and it didn't cost me anything other than my time. If this saves even 1 person from the hell I went through to get to this point at least it was worth it. Good Luck!
 

D4ggerfall

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Looks like you had more luck than me with their support. Once i installed a new motherboard, cpu and ram they didn't activate it for me or anything, just told me to buy a new one. Also, you can launch the chat via an app that's preinstalled. It's called contact Microsoft or something.
 

Trkkr19

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Yeah, I don't know if that is the same chat though. Italked to 3 different chat 'departments'. Apparently they are all different. From my recollection the first one's I talked to were some sort of 'Customer Support' the 2nd was 'Microsoft Store' I think and the one I linked was 'Microsoft Answer Tech'.
 

BaconLover

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■ Greetings, I had this issue on a computer I had. After getting the Win10 upgrade eligible in Windows 8, I became impatient waiting and decided to force load Win 10 myself. I downloaded windows 64 bit and let it install. Had the Key Activation Error 0xC004C003. I followed the advice above of going here once I had my product key extracted.

The technician logged into my computer remotely and did a diagnostic. He opened a command window and ran:
slmgr.vbs /dlv
^^ this shows how you are currently licensed.

He then ran:
findstr /i /c:"Source OS" c:\windows\panther\setupact.log
^^this provided him with a number which he as able to look up to see internally at MS what my source OS was.

He then ran:
wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey
^^this showed the very same product key I had extracted from my BIOS using the instructions found here

He then asked me to wait a few moments and he took about 3 or 4 minutes researching on his end.

He came back and told me that I had (errantly) loaded Win 10 Home on a machine that was registered for Windows 8 PRO. He Opened a notepad screen and pasted some questions for me and "waived the mouse over top of it" to indicate he wanted me to enter the following:
My Name:
My Phone:
My Address:
Machine Manufacturer:
Original Key: (I had this ready to paste in)

Once I entered this he generated a Win10 Pro key for me, and applied it for me as well. He then opened a notepad window asking me to save it on my hard drive. but as that happened Windows 10 began the "upgrade" process to Pro immediately, and I lost complete control of the machine to to Win Upgrades.

I was worried as it forced a reboot, that I wouldn't know my new key for certain. But once it completely rebooted automatically twice, I was once again back in the remote control session with the MS tech (automatically, no effort on my part). He again brought up the notepad and pasted in my new Win 10 key and he asking me to save the key in a safe place. I saved it on my network.

All this took about 30 minutes total. Thanks to all above, especially Trkkr19.

Also, I took a sharpie, and I physically wrote both the Win 8 PRO and Win 10 PRO keys clearly with permanent ink on the inside of the case of my computer.
 

Anon03628272

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Anonymous :

Just a quick summary Windows 7> Upgraded to windows 10> BAD SYSTEM CONFIG (Blue screen of death) error> Could not access so clean installed Windows 10 from website> Windows 10 not activated after attempts at punching in the Win 7 ProdKey several times> Looked for more solutions e.g to re install Win7 from iso boot from USB> Frantically searched the internet for alternative answers then I find this forum thread.

Went through the whole process name, email, number, Win 7 Prod key (exactly what you guys above went through). Was very polite to the microsoft technician and even flirted with her (don't judge me, she had a good looking avatar! why not?) and Voila!

Thanks guys for the great tip. It saved me so much time and grief!

In summary, if all else fails try the windows support team. I am sure the current attitude at Microsoft at the moment in relation to roll out of Win 10 is to maximize the number of adopters and in doing so regain its once existing market share by essentially giving most of Win10 for free. So I would say, (correct me if i am wrong) it is in their interest to promote a seamless transition for current and previous users to the new platform and in doing so provide a critical & responsive troubleshoot resolution to support the new shiny OS on the market so as not to highlight the fact it still has yet to iron out the few kinks..

Peace out...
 
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