# Windows 10 Activation (Insider)



## LightningJR (Aug 12, 2015)

I did a full clean install of Windows 10 a while back and it will not activate. I didn't do a clean install from Windows 7/8/8.1 it was from Windows 10 (activated) so I expected it to activate just fine since it was fine before hand.

My Windows 10 license wasn't created from a previous Windows 7/8/8.1 key I got it from signing up to be an insider back in Nov of 2014. I installed a preview build on my laptop from the insider program and it worked just fine and it automatically upgraded to newer and newer preview builds and then to the full release automatically, fully activated and working fine. I did a full clean install not long ago (expect it to go through without issue since it was working before) and now it will not activate and I can't find any info on how to get it to activate and I can't seem to find the insider Windows 10 key.

Microsoft online support was useless and the gave me the toll free number to tech support.. I am currently on the phone waiting, they said it could be a 1hr 30min wait.. sigh.. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## Pill Monster (Aug 12, 2015)

You have to sign in to your MS account at least once after install.


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## LightningJR (Aug 12, 2015)

Pill Monster said:


> You have to sign in to your MS account at least once after install.



My Insider account email/windows account it linked to my Windows 10 log in. If that's what you mean.


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## Pill Monster (Aug 12, 2015)

LightningJR said:


> My Insider account email/windows account it linked to my Windows 10 log in. If that's what you mean.


Yeah they blacklisted the insider keys at RTM, so u need to activate it again. They're using KMS server activation, so there's only handful of keys.

If you don't have any luck I can show another quicker method...lol


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## Jetster (Aug 12, 2015)

Never mind


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## LightningJR (Aug 12, 2015)

Pill Monster said:


> Yeah they blacklisted the insider keys at RTM, so u need to activate it again. They're using KMS server activation, so there's only handful of keys.
> 
> If you don't have any luck I can show another quicker method...lol



My buddy told me that as an insider I basically got a free copy of Windows 10, so that's not true? I want to be legit.


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## Pill Monster (Aug 12, 2015)

LightningJR said:


> My buddy told me that as an insider I basically got a free copy of Windows 10, so that's not true? I want to be legit.


It's true.


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## LightningJR (Aug 12, 2015)

Pill Monster said:


> It's true.


umm ok.. I guess I don't understand. So, my key is blacklisted, so I can't activate. How do I have a legit copy of Windows 10 if my key is useless?


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## Pill Monster (Aug 12, 2015)

LightningJR said:


> umm ok.. I guess I don't understand. So, my key is blacklisted, so I can't activate. How do I have a legit copy of Windows 10 if my key is useless?


All the preview keys were blacklisted, that's why you need to sign into ur MS account, only those who had insider accounts before build 3140 will be activated. 

Otherwise anyone could do it.


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## broken pixel (Aug 12, 2015)

MSToolkit


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## Pill Monster (Aug 12, 2015)

You can do it using the CLI, if u know the key. lol


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## LightningJR (Aug 12, 2015)

broken pixel said:


> MSToolkit



Is that legit? I don't think so.



Pill Monster said:


> You can do it using the CLI, if u know the key. lol



I should have wrote down the key, I remember seeing the key when I went to get the ISO download for the preview build on their website.



Pill Monster said:


> All the preview keys were blacklisted, that's why you need to sign into ur MS account, only those who had insider accounts before build 3140 will be activated.
> Otherwise anyone could do it.



So are you saying there's an issue with mine activating, that it's suppose to work when I log in with my MS account? Or are you saying accounts before build 3140 need to log in to their MS account for it to work? If that's the case I guess I am shit out of luck and not all insiders get a free copy of Windows 10?


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## Pill Monster (Aug 12, 2015)

LightningJR said:


> Is that legit? I don't think so.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Every insider needs to log into their MS account. I said that already.  How else would MS stop people who weren't beta testing from grabbing a preview version with a preview key and keeping it for free,...?  


You had to have an MS insider account before 3140.


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## Pill Monster (Aug 12, 2015)

If u were a legit insider I can pm u the details. I activated my own RTM build on the 20th because MS were activation having issues then and I couldn't use the desktop without activating, catch 22.  So I did it myself.


The OS isn't activated using a keycode, it's activated with a KMS host server.


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## LightningJR (Aug 12, 2015)

Pill Monster said:


> Every insider needs to log into their MS account. I said that already.  How else would MS stop people who weren't beta testing from grabbing a preview version with a preview key and keeping it for free,...?
> 
> 
> You had to have an MS insider account before 3140.





Pill Monster said:


> If u were a legit insider I can pm u the details. I activated my own RTM build on the 20th because MS were activation having issues then and I couldn't use the desktop without activating, catch 22.  So I did it myself.



I am a legit Insider, I don't know if my account was before 3140 or not. I installed the Insider Hub app in the hopes it would have my key but it did not (not that it matters) but it does tell me I am an insider since 11/27/2014. I don't know if that's before 3140 or not. A quick Google search reveals nothing concerning build 3140.

My knowledge is very limited when it comes to OSes, I do rely on my friend to get me through these kind of things  I am more of a hardware guy. 3140 seems to be a very early build since they're up to 10240, am I missing something?

PM me with details if you can, I am legit.


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## Pill Monster (Aug 12, 2015)

240 is rtm.


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## Laurijan (Sep 9, 2015)

Hi!

I signed up in the windows insider program and got windows 10 free - the windows 10 insider preview updated to windows 10 pro.
Today i got another SSD and did a raid 0 on my system forcing me to do a clean install of windows but now it wont activate anymore.
Signing in with my microsoft account that was linked to the insider program didnt help.
Maybe i got this problem since i quit the insider program for several days and signed up again after i found out that my win 10 wont activate anymore.
Any ideas how to fix it?

Lauri


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## LightningJR (Sep 9, 2015)

Laurijan said:


> Hi!
> 
> I signed up in the windows insider program and got windows 10 free - the windows 10 insider preview updated to windows 10 pro.
> Today i got another SSD and did a raid 0 on my system forcing me to do a clean install of windows but now it wont activate anymore.
> ...



I couldn't get it to work at all.. I was also told from a friend that it wasn't possible, you may be out of luck.


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## 95Viper (Sep 9, 2015)

Laurijan said:


> Hi!
> 
> I signed up in the windows insider program and got windows 10 free - the windows 10 insider preview updated to windows 10 pro.
> Today i got another SSD and did a raid 0 on my system forcing me to do a clean install of windows but now it wont activate anymore.
> ...




How long did you wait for activation?
When I re-installed with a fresh install... it took a few hours to sync and activate.
However, it did, finally, activate.


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## AsRock (Sep 9, 2015)

95Viper said:


> How long did you wait for activation?
> When I re-installed with a fresh install... it took a few hours to sync and activate.
> However, it did, finally, activate.



This,  gotta wait, i known it take split seconds to a day.


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## marmiteonpizza (Sep 10, 2015)

When I replaced my motherboard a few weeks ago, I had the same problem in that I couldn't reactivate (although obviously because I was effectively using a new PC, as that's how the motherboard is seen as).
I have to say that Microsoft support were very, very helpful in my scenario. I started messaging one of the technicians and told him my problem, he gave me a secure link to download a piece of software that let him take control of my PC, he activated Windows 10 for me by getting a new activation code...done!
So maybe try the "chat" method of communication 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/contact/menu/billing/?OSMCSignIn=true&wa=wsignin1.0


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## qubit (Sep 10, 2015)

LightningJR said:


> I did a full clean install of Windows 10 a while back and it will not activate. I didn't do a clean install from Windows 7/8/8.1 it was from Windows 10 (activated) so I expected it to activate just fine since it was fine before hand.
> 
> My Windows 10 license wasn't created from a previous Windows 7/8/8.1 key I got it from signing up to be an insider back in Nov of 2014. I installed a preview build on my laptop from the insider program and it worked just fine and it automatically upgraded to newer and newer preview builds and then to the full release automatically, fully activated and working fine. I did a full clean install not long ago (expect it to go through without issue since it was working before) and now it will not activate and I can't find any info on how to get it to activate and I can't seem to find the insider Windows 10 key.
> 
> Microsoft online support was useless and the gave me the toll free number to tech support.. I am currently on the phone waiting, they said it could be a 1hr 30min wait.. sigh.. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.


This is exactly what I'm seeing and am still investigating. I don't want to get your hopes up though, as I think you're out of luck, unfortunately. I might be too, but I'm in with a chance and here is why.

I installed my Insider copy right at the start of the program on VMWare Player where it activated with my Live account. It also upgraded to the RTM copy when it was released and is activated. So far so good.

I then downloaded the ISO using Microsoft's tool and installed a clean copy on my laptop, again logging in with my Live account, but it won't activate, just like you've seen. Reason given is that the key is blocked. However, what I'm now gonna do is image that VM onto the laptop's HDD and see if that works. It may remain activated (doubtful), require a phone activation or simply not activate at all. Let's hope it activates.

BTW, I never opted out of the insider program and am still on the Fast updates, so my OS version is currently showing as 10.0.10532, which is later than the 10.0.10240 RTM build - it did a full OS install for it.

Finally, even though you can't activate yours, you can still do the upgrade thing from W7 or W8/8.1 so you're not actually stuck, you just don't get the Insider version.


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## Drone (Sep 10, 2015)

Like Pill Monster said no more Windows 10 keys for Insiders. It was on Microsoft Blog they said that all that stuff is tied to one machine. You can upgrade anytime but never make a clean install. Those people who upgraded from 7 or 8.1 to 10 can do a clean install of RTM and post-RTM builds. A friend of mine upgraded from RTM to 10533 or whatever the latest post-RTM build is (and it activated just fine).

After all MS isn't stupid to give Windows 10 for free.


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## qubit (Sep 10, 2015)

Drone said:


> Like Pill Monster said no more Windows 10 keys for Insiders. It was on Microsoft Blog they said that all that stuff is tied to one machine. You can upgrade anytime but never make a clean install. Those people who upgraded from 7 or 8.1 to 10 can do a clean install of RTM and post-RTM builds. A friend of mine upgraded from RTM to 10533 or whatever the latest post-RTM build is (and it activated just fine).
> 
> After all MS isn't stupid to give Windows 10 for free.


This kinda sucks. However, if one is upgrading from a retail W7/8, then it should activate on different hardware, with possible phone activation required if it's been over 120 days or whatever the timeout period is now since the last activation. Remember to erase the copy on the old hardware, of course.


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## Drone (Sep 10, 2015)

qubit said:


> This kinda sucks. However, if one is upgrading from a retail W7/8, then it should activate on different hardware, with possible phone activation required if it's been over 120 days or whatever the timeout period is now since the last activation. Remember to erase the copy on the old hardware, of course.


I don't really like this free upgrade system. It was much better (in fact it was perfect) with 7 -> 8 upgrade. You got your personal key and could activate it anytime or change faulty hardware and do the phone activation. Now you have generic key (if you didn't buy but used free upgrade system) and fully depend on MS.


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## qubit (Sep 10, 2015)

Drone said:


> I don't really like this free upgrade system. It was much better (in fact it was perfect) with 7 -> 8 upgrade. You got your personal key and could activate it anytime or change faulty hardware and do the phone activation. Now you have generic key (if you didn't buy but used free upgrade system) and fully depend on MS.


Yes, quite. Critically, there's still a question of whether the old W7/8 key gets blocked after a time (is it 30 days?) of upgrading to W10 making the old OS unusable. If true, That makes it a part exchange with a monetary value and there's nothing free about that. In fact, it would be deceptive marketing from MS.


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## qubit (Sep 10, 2015)

qubit said:


> This is exactly what I'm seeing and am still investigating. I don't want to get your hopes up though, as I think you're out of luck, unfortunately. I might be too, but I'm in with a chance and here is why.
> 
> I installed my Insider copy right at the start of the program on VMWare Player where it activated with my Live account. It also upgraded to the RTM copy when it was released and is activated. So far so good.
> 
> ...


Nope. Tried copying the VM over, but it said key blocked again. I guess I'm stuck with W10 on that VM lol.

Other than some dodgy third party hack, which I don't even know if it exists, the only way to get an activated W10 on something other than that VM is to either do the upgrade from W7/8 or buy it.

Interestingly, the one thing I can't seem to find at online retailers, is W10 Pro retail on DVD. You can get it on USB for £165, but not DVD.

Also, on the activation wizard, it's got a link to the Microsoft store where it can be bought for an expensive £190. Ouch.


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## Laurijan (Sep 10, 2015)

Laurijan said:


> Hi!
> 
> I signed up in the windows insider program and got windows 10 free - the windows 10 insider preview updated to windows 10 pro.
> Today i got another SSD and did a raid 0 on my system forcing me to do a clean install of windows but now it wont activate anymore.
> ...



I bought Windows 7 Pro OEM key from G2Play.net for 12€ to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro - worked like a charm but be advised if you buy a OEM key you can not download the Win 7 iso from microsoft and have to get it elsewhere.


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## qubit (Sep 10, 2015)

Laurijan said:


> I bought Windows 7 Pro OEM key from G2Play.net for 12€ to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro - worked like a charm but be advised if you buy a OEM key you can not download the Win 7 iso from microsoft and have to get it elsewhere.


A Windows key for just 12 Euros? That's pirate then.


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## Drone (Sep 10, 2015)

qubit said:


> A Windows key for just 12 Euros? That's pirate then.



I think so too. What in the world g2play is anyway


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