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Microsoft Fixes the Windows 10 Activation Mess
By Bogdan Popa
13 Oct 2015, 08:56 GMT
More changes supposed to make it easier to activate
Windows 10 brought a completely new activation system for Microsoft customers upgrading from a previous version of Windows, but it's no secret that, for many people, it failed to work correctly, so they were unable to perform a clean install just because their new install wasn't validated.
In just a few words, users running genuine Windows 7 or 8.1 on their PCs were allowed to upgrade to Windows 10 without paying a single cent, and once they did this, the new OS install was supposed to activate automatically.
Once this activation was performed, they were allowed to clean-install Windows 10 as well for as many times as they wanted during what Microsoft called “the supported lifetime of the device.”
But because Windows 10 failed to activate in the first place, many users were unable to clean-install it, so troubleshooting was the thing that many had to turn to after upgrading.
New activation method
In Windows 10 build 10565, Microsoft changed this behavior and makes it simpler for users to activate their copy of the operating system.
Gabe Aul, head of the Windows Insider program, has said that users of build 10565 can activate it using their Windows 7 or 8.1 product key directly, so there's no need to come from a previous OS install and follow the direct upgrade path.
To do this, users need to go to:
Settings > Update & security > Activation > Change Product Key
And enter their genuine product key for either Windows 7 or 8.1.
“We have received a lot of feedback from Insiders on making it easier to activate Windows 10 on devices that take advantage of the free upgrade offer to genuine Windows by using existing Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 product keys,” Aul explains. “If you do a clean install of Windows 10 by booting off the media, you can also enter the product key from prior Windows versions on qualifying devices during setup.”
This new behavior is currently part of the Windows Insider builds, but if everything works well, the same activation system might be used for the stable builds of Windows 10 too.
