Windows deactivated URGENT

[facemonkey05]

So i bought a prebuilt PC about a year ago, and recently decided to upgrade it because the hardware was outdated for the games i play. I upgraded my motherboard, cpu, and ram. When i first booted i had a blue screen (which is irrelevant because it was a bad app) so i decided to fresh start my pc but keep my files. Once it finished, Windows booted up with my Microsoft account and files with no apps. But i noticed that in the bottom right corner of my pc has a watermark on it, even when i played games, that read:

"Activate Windows

Go to Settings to activate Windows"

So i followed the directions and went to the activate Windows screen. Once there, I clicked "troubleshoot" and it got me all the way until i clicked my pc name when it came up with a message that read:

Unable to activate Windows
We can’t reactivate Windows on this device. Try again later.

For reference I clicked "I changed hardware on this device recently."

For anyone that can help, my error code is "0xC004C003"

All I can see is my product ID meanwhile my product key is covered my X's with the last 5 digits revealed.

Yes, I have looked at the Microsoft Help Pages, and talked to tech support and nothing helped.

If ANYONE can help me with this problem, it would mean the world to me. Thanks in advance.

 

[Supahos]

You can't change your motherboard with a prebuilt windows licence. It's a new computer and will need a new copy of Windows

 

[facemonkey05]

You can't change your motherboard with a prebuilt windows licence. It's a new computer and will need a new copy of Windows

*

 

[Supahos]

Yep that's how they get ya, good news is windows 10 acts the same on day on as day 3000 when unactivated. You can save up to validate it later and run as is, or deal with the few restrictions it has now.


Please edit your profanity out as it's not welcome here

 

[USAFRet]

You can't change your motherboard with a prebuilt windows licence. It's a new computer and will need a new copy of Windows

*

1. Language, please.

2. Your original OEM license is non transferable. That is about the only case where it is not transferable.
Time to buy a new valid OS for your new hardware.

 

[kiss-method]

Could give eBay license purchase a try. There 7ish$. But they're the same OEM, so it'll get linked to your current hardware

 

[facemonkey05]

Could give eBay license purchase a try. There 7ish$

sounds sketchy but i guess, i mean i did break the bank on the upgrade

 

[kiss-method]

Yeah it really does..... But there have been people on the forum suggesting it cuz that's how they got theirs.

You do have the eBay protection.... So if something goes wrong you could try get your money back (but since it's a digital purchase, I'm not sure how they handle that). But even at that it's worth a try.

 

[canadianvice]

Don't buy those licenses. They're often sold illegally (from stolen credit cards, or in violation of volume license agreements). They'll last all of 6 months and then be retracted by MS. Paypal will not last long enough to catch them in many cases.

My suggestion is run Win10 for free for now, or another thing that *may* work is try using phone activation on that OEM key. I find it's a lot more liberal than the traditional vectors for activating.

 

[atomicWAR]

edit: retracted advice

 

[canadianvice]

You could grab a key through kinguin for around 25-30 bucks depending on what version of widows you want. They are fairly reputable and toms just did a piece on buying keys this way...

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/get-windows-10-free-or-cheap,5717.html

Kinguin
https://www.kinguin.net/category/15019/windows/

They are most certainly not reputable. Many of those keys, as with Ebay or G2A, are fenced stolen goods or sold in knowing violation of their licenses. Kinguin's policies are specifically intended to limit liability - why do you think you have to pay extra for insurance?

That toms article was done without principle and many of Toms' own mods rejected it. I myself was warned after commenting on it by an mod that they (editorial, not the mods) were deleting unfavourable commentary such as mine.

Do not buy cheap keys. At best, they don't last long, and at worst, you are actually supporting theft and allowing them to continue fencing stolen property (and not just from megacorps - many of these keys are bought on stolen credit cards which hurts not only the people they were stolen from, but the entity who made the product from chargeback fees).

 

[atomicWAR]

You could grab a key through kinguin for around 25-30 bucks depending on what version of widows you want. They are fairly reputable and toms just did a piece on buying keys this way...

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/get-windows-10-free-or-cheap,5717.html

Kinguin
https://www.kinguin.net/category/15019/windows/

They are most certainly not reputable. Many of those keys, as with Ebay or G2A, are fenced stolen goods or sold in knowing violation of their licenses. Kinguin's policies are specifically intended to limit liability - why do you think you have to pay extra for insurance?

That toms article was done without principle and many of Toms' own mods rejected it. I myself was warned after commenting on it by an mod that they (editorial, not the mods) were deleting unfavourable commentary such as mine.

Do not buy cheap keys. At best, they don't last long, and at worst, you are actually supporting theft and allowing them to continue fencing stolen property (and not just from megacorps - many of these keys are bought on stolen credit cards which hurts not only the people they were stolen from, but the entity who made the product from chargeback fees).

News to me...I was only posting what i read on toms...

 

[canadianvice]

You could grab a key through kinguin for around 25-30 bucks depending on what version of widows you want. They are fairly reputable and toms just did a piece on buying keys this way...

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/get-windows-10-free-or-cheap,5717.html

Kinguin
https://www.kinguin.net/category/15019/windows/

They are most certainly not reputable. Many of those keys, as with Ebay or G2A, are fenced stolen goods or sold in knowing violation of their licenses. Kinguin's policies are specifically intended to limit liability - why do you think you have to pay extra for insurance?

That toms article was done without principle and many of Toms' own mods rejected it. I myself was warned after commenting on it by an mod that they (editorial, not the mods) were deleting unfavourable commentary such as mine.

Do not buy cheap keys. At best, they don't last long, and at worst, you are actually supporting theft and allowing them to continue fencing stolen property (and not just from megacorps - many of these keys are bought on stolen credit cards which hurts not only the people they were stolen from, but the entity who made the product from chargeback fees).

News to me...I was only posting what i read on toms...

Go forth, and spread the news. Toms on the whole is good, but their editorial team has had several severe lapses in judgement. The forums are approached almost every other day with someone who's gotten screwed out of a key they bought on these websites. I don't mean to be aggressive, but I just don't want people to be taken advantage of, or inadvertently support such a disgusting subhuman activity as theft.

 

[Supahos]

The new regime here is rotten anyway. I never even bother with this website anymore, just the forums to help individuals

 

[atomicWAR]

i just dug through the comments to see what your were saying. Basically not all are illegitimate but some keys are. My mistake. I take back my recommendation.