Some users over the web are reporting that their Windows 10 has suddenly been deactivated. Others reported that their Pro edition got downgraded to Home. They are reporting that the Activation status of their Windows 10 changed from Activated to Not activated. When they tried to activate Windows, the attempt failed.
Said an irritated user on Reddit:
All of a sudden after years of having this key which was from windows 8 pro then migrated to windows 10 for free, I got a notification saying my key is Windows 10 home version and that I need to install it.
Users who used the Windows Activation Troubleshooter received the following message:
You have a Windows 10 Home license but you are running Windows 10 Pro.
UPDATE: The Windows Update Troubleshooter seems to be working for many now.
The cause for this is being attributed to the failure of Microsoft’s Activation Servers to validate the Windows 10 licenses.
Microsoft confirms Windows 10 Activation issue
Microsoft is aware of this situation and has released a statement explaining the issue.
Microsoft has just released an Emerging issue announcement about current activation issue related to Pro edition recently. This happens in Japan, Korea, American and many other countries. I am very sorry to inform you that there is a temporary issue with Microsoft’s activation server at the moment and some customers might experience this issue where Windows is displayed as not activated. Our engineers are working tirelessly to resolve this issue and it is expected to be corrected within one to two business days.
UPDATE: Microsoft has released an updated statement:
We are aware of reports that some customers’ Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise machines are not recognizing their licenses as activated. Users may receive the following notification: “Error: you are running Windows 10 Pro, but you have valid digital license for Windows 10 Home,” or one of the following error codes 0X803F8001, 0xC004C003. We are actively working to resolve this within 24 hours. You can still use your PC; however, the watermark will appear until activation is restored. Thank you for your patience. We will update this post with additional information as needed and once activations are restored.
Microsoft has advised users to wait for the fix.
Related read: Windows 10 suddenly deactivated itself after Update.
Why is it tied to a server that’s constantly checking the verification status? It should be a one and done thing, and then we wouldn’t have issues like this at all.
Mine deactivated this morning but I reinstalled Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit and its Activated again
It will re-activate if you run this command (as administrator): slmgr.vbs -ato
Press Windows+R to open the “Run” box. Type “cmd” into the box and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to run the command as an administrator.
thanks DR for the tip
Didn’t work for me; it says my Key is “Blocked” whatever that means?
It is a valid Win 7 Pro upgraded to Win 10 Pro, and only invalidated after I made a hardware change on Saturday. The troubleshooter didn’t help either. Going to wait one more day before calling MS about it, to see if it resolves.
It’s not fixed for some. I didn’t initially experience this issue, and therefore wasn’t even aware of it, until well into the weekend. On Saturday I made several hardware upgrades – including both Motherboard and CPU. Upon booting after the upgrades, all seemed fine; I used my Microsoft account PIN to log in, it asked me to validate Windows, which I did, and all seemed to work. However, at some point overnight my Windows decided it wasn’t valid any more, to my surprise. I attempted to re-validate it on Sunday to no avail; I tried the Troubleshooter, which wasn’t able to resolve the validation, so I selected the “Changed Hardware” option and it failed with the statement that it doesn’t match any version on my account (despite checking my account and seeing it’s still listed there). I tried using CMD prompt method to check my system info, and force a validation check, but it reports that my Key is “Blocked”, whatever that means. I had used the free upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 Pro years ago, when it was offered, so I don’t even know if I have my original Win 7 disk anywhere (since it was installed well over 10yrs ago). I haven’t been able to get through to MS Tech support yet, but everything I read online said to “Be Patient” but that the problem has been officially resolved. Sorry, obviously it hasn’t resolved for everyone.
My windows 10 copy has been deactivated for close to a month now, after I installed build 18272, and nothing seems to fix it. Today I got a message that my build number has also expired, but since my license got deactivated, I cannot download any new builds from the insider program, I just get an error message.