SOLVED New Hard Drive - Can't activate

[jimlau]

My HD failed, so did a clean install on a new hard drive. Windows says it can't activate.

I clicked on that I had new hardware. Seems I did not use a Microsoft account when I originally installed.

What can I do? Do I have to contact Microsoft? If so, how?

Thanks.

 

[Grizzly]

Did you install the same architecture and version again?? Meaning 32/64bit or pro/home.
Not being able to activate requires more hardware changes than just the hard drive, otherwise I myself would never be able to reactivate again.
The only scenario I can think of that prevents activation is if you have changed more than just the drive or you tried to change from Home to Pro, respective from 32bit to 64 bit or vice versa.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi Jimlau,

activate it by phone, a long labourious process but it works (I have done it once on a W10 rig):

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/950929/get-help-activating-microsoft-windows

 

[davehc]

I have to agree with Grizzly. If you only changed the hard drive, it should activate automatically - assuming , as grizzly said, you installed the very same Windows 10 version (Home: Pro:etc)

Alternatively, you didn't, by chance, in the initial stage of the install, manually put in an activation code. That is a big no no.

 

[Saltgrass]

The system should have been activated even though you did not use a Microsoft account. Did you check for activation status prior to losing the drive?

If it was activated prior it should activate when you go online and it may take a little while.

Do you have a Microsoft account? If so, there may be an option on the activation page to add that device to the account, which you would have to do in order to sync. But I don't think this is related to activation.

One side note, with a new system I received from Dell, the drive was encrypted with BitLocker. I had to sign into a Microsoft account to be able to decrypt it. Reinstalling on the same system to a clean drive also resulted in an encrypted drive.

 

[Clintlgm]

Hi Jimlau,

activate it by phone, a long labourious process but it works (I have done it once on a W10 rig):

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/950929/get-help-activating-microsoft-windows

Also something I found out recently after phone activation you can save the numbers for future activations, I found this out from staying on the phone for a bit after activating and this was announced to keep the number for future activations