Windows Activation can sometimes be tedious. Be it the upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 or from Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 to Windows 10, there always been some activation issues floating up on the Internet. Windows 10 is the latest offering from Microsoft, and the issues persists. If your Windows 10 has suddenly deactivated itself after installing Windows Updates, then this post shows how to fix the automatic deactivation of Windows 10 after installation of new updates. We have around four potential solutions to your problem.
Windows 10 deactivated itself after Update
Without any further ado, let us just dive deeper in finding solutions.
Enter the Product Key and activate manually
This is the most basic fix anyone could do. The only thing you need while applying this fix into action is that you will need your genuine product key.
This product key can be the one of your Windows 7 or Windows 8 key which was installed on your computer before the Windows 10 installation. Or if you have got Windows 10 preinstalled and preactivated, you can use that key as well. If you can’t find it, start praying that it was embedded in your BIOS/UEFI firmware. You can find it by executing the following comand in an elevated CMD:
wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey
Let us consider that you found your key and you are ready for it now.
First of all, open your Settings app on Windows 10. Navigate by clicking on to Update and Recovery. Now, on the side navigation bar on the left click on Activation.
It will now show you a button that says Enter a Product Key. Click on it. Now, just enter the Product Key you have in the Popup box and proceed with activation of your copy of Windows 10.
Just so you know, this product key is about 25-characters long.
You can do the same thing on an older version of Windows. For this, you will have to search for This PC first. Then you will have to right-click on it.
After that, click on Properties to see a new window popping up. On the bottom of the window, you will see an option that will ask you to change or update your product key. Click on it and follow the same steps. This will activate your computer. If still there is no luck after following these steps, try another solution.
Run Activation Troubleshooter
The Windows 10 Activation Troubleshooter will help you address most commonly encountered activation issues on Genuine Windows devices including those caused by hardware changes.
If you cannot activate Windows 10, open Settings > Update & security and click on the Activation link in the left panel. Next, click on the Troubleshoot link.
Roll back to earlier version
In this solution, we will talk about rolling back to the previous build of Windows. If you upgraded from an older version of Windows 10, you would be rolled to that one, but if you upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8, you would be rolled to the respective version of Windows.
First of all, you will have to open Settings app. Then, navigate to Update & Security. Inside that menu, click on Recovery.
Under the banner of Go back to an earlier build, click on the button that says Get Started.
Follow the instructions that come on the screen and follow them to revert to an older build.
Reset or Clean Install
You can just reset your installed copy of Windows 10 without using any sorts of external ISO files or a USB Drive. Open the Settings app and navigate to Update & Security > Recovery.
Under the option of Reset your PC, click on Get Started button and follow the steps on how you would wish to reset your PC. This will reinstall the copy of Windows 10 on your computer and will recover your product key. The Product key on computers that came with genuine copy Windows is embedded inside of the BIOS or UEFI firmware.
Or you can use a standard ISO file of Windows 10 that can be downloaded using the Media Creation tool by Microsoft. Burn a USB Drive or a DVD with that ISO and make the ISO bootable. Then you will have to boot your computer with your bootable USB and proceed with the suitable steps to clean install Windows 10 on your computer.
Contact Customer Support
Microsoft has made it really easy to get in touch with their customer support. Any edition of Windows 10 now comes with a preinstalled Contact Support app that will connect you directly to one of the Customer Virtual Support agents from Microsoft. There are four ways you can do this:
- The first one is a voice call whose waiting time is surprisingly short in this world where customer care agents keep you waiting for hours to resolve your issues.
- The second one is the option for a quick chat with a support agent. This is quick too as I have got my issues fixed in a matter of minutes.
- Now, the third one will help arrange a call in this future.
- And the fourth one is asking the community where the user is redirected to the online Microsoft community. There the user can ask and answer questions related to Microsoft products and services.
This post details more ways to contact Microsft Support.
All the best!