Borked my new Windows 10 Activation

[marmasatt]

So with only a few days left to get in before the wire, I wanted to upgrade a few W7 systems including my main desktop here. I was running windows 7 Pro fully updated/legal etc. So if I upgraded through the offer, then why would my Pro OS edition only upgrade to Windows 10 Home? Is that just the way it works?

My upgrade went absolutely fine, it was even activated as Windows 10 Home. So I was feeling confident so I then hit "upgrade my edition of windows" which downloaded all of the updates to now go from Home to Windows 10 Pro. I used the generic Windows 10 key found here and also my own Windows 7 Pro key and now neither are working to fully activate my already installed Windows 10 Pro edition. http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-delivers-new-windows-10-threshold-2-test-build-for-pc-users/

1) All my hardware and everything is fine. I'm pretty sure that MS will activate this for me if I call, but is there a way around calling where I can get this thing activated?

Edit for another question.

2) I actually have a bigger SSD that I am upgrading in this system. So my original thoughts were to do the upgrade on the old/current SSD, get the system activated. Then get the W10 Pro key and just use it for a fresh install for the new SSD that I am adding. So that was the original line of thinking. Is this now possible, or should I just install the new SSD and then worry about all of this??

I am liking it so far btw. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Ketchup]

I have yet to hear about Windows 10 upgrading to the wrong version (and be a legitimate fault of the OS).. Your best shot here might be just to tell Windows to go back to 7, and run the upgrade again. Go to your Systems page in 7 before doing the upgrade and verify you have the version you think you have.

 

[JeffMD]

"generic Windows 10 key found here"

There is your problem. There is no generic windows 10 key. Even in the pirating world, there is no single user entered "key" that will activate all windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10 installations. I think they still use a form of shadow bios hacking to make legit oem codes appear in the computer firmware.

To PROPERLY upgrade to windows 10 and obtain your new key, you need to do 2 things. #1 Use the UPGRADE process in windows 7/8 to do the FIRST upgrade. This is the only process that will give you a legit key (That you can't see). Now the problem is you are now in windows 10 with no idea what your key is, so if you used a non microsoft email based logon then if you delete windows, you've lost your key forever. Step #2, make sure you have created a microsoft email account to logon with, THIS step will allow MS to tie your invisible key to the email address. So now when you RE-install windows 10, MS can re apply the key when you use your microsoft logon.

After this process, you will have a key tied to a microsoft logon. At this point if your install goes bad, or you wanted to reinstall windows 10 from scratch, you can delete everything, use the windows 10 iso tool from MS to create an install USB/DVD, don't enter a key during the installation, and when you are asked to setup your windows logon you use the microsoft logon you made before. At that point MS will resynch your windows 10 key and activate for you.

One thing to note, at any point if you upgrade hardware on your pc to the point the windows 10 does not recognise it as original you will be screwed. MS offers no way to reset the hardware configuration on these keys like they did on legit purchased keys. So great for laptops and mini PCs, bad for desktops.

 

[TeknoBug]

To get the phone call thing, type slui 4 in the run box.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Seems to me that the OP never paid for the pro version and is only authorized to use the home version of 10.

 

[nerp]

To start over, assuming you have legit keys, install win 7 pro and activate it. Then upgrade. Or install win 10 pro and use your legit win 7 key. That's the only way to do it.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I missed the part about him running 7 pro which should've upgraded to 10 pro so an upgrade/clean install using the latest ISO from MS via the media creation tool with ALL available updates should make it right. Make sure that you choose the correct version of 10 if the question arises during the installation process. I would use the media creation tool up upgrade now and see how it handles it. Often times when WU fails the media creation tool will get it right.

 

[Bird222]

If you have a legitimate Win 7 Pro key, try this. http://www.zdnet.com/article/going-pro-how-to-upgrade-windows-10-home-without-hassles/