Microsoft Investigating Bug that Deactivates Windows 10 Pro Licenses

[VSG]

As if the missing files bug with Windows 10 version 1809 was not enough, Microsoft has more on their plate to tackle with some reports coming from consumers that their Windows 10 Pro digital license was suddenly showing up as deactivated. This was reported by multiple Reddit users first, in an account that seemed to not be restricted to any specific region either. Indeed, many of the affected got further notices by the OS that the license was for Windows 10 Home instead, and that they had to now install that specific variant.

To their credit, Microsoft were quick to take notice of this obvious bug and one of their support team members went on to say that "Microsoft has just released an Emerging issue announcement about current activation issue related to Pro edition recently. This happens in Japan, Korea, American and many other countries. I am very sorry to inform you that there is a temporary issue with Microsoft's activation server at the moment and some customers might experience this issue where Windows is displayed as not activated. Our engineers are working tirelessly to resolve this issue and it is expected to be corrected within one to two business days." This was followed up by a statement from Jeff Jones, a senior director at the company, who went on to say "A limited number of customers experienced an activation issue that our engineers have now addressed. Affected customers will see resolution over the next 24 hours as the solution is applied automatically. In the meantime, they can continue to use Windows 10 Pro as usual."

If you happen to have this issue, try out the activation troubleshooter to see if the update was applied, and that should help resolve the bug.



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[trparky]

Did someone let the inmates run the asylum? It sure does seem like it, Microsoft has been putting out a lot of fires lately.

 

[sifu]

i got hit with this bug, thankfully it was plastered all over reddit and people said just wait for it to be fixed.
how it fixed it later on, hit "Activate Now" > "Troubleshoot"

 

[rtwjunkie]

I haven’t turned my rig on in two days. I think before I turn it on and get back to gaming I will give MS a few more days to sort out the brokenness they added to what already was working.

 

[Divide Overflow]

Windows as a mis-service.

 

[dcf-joe]

I got hit with this "bug" last night while playing a match of CS:GO. I was one of the people that purchased a copy of Windows 8 Pro when it came out, so I was allowed to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free when Windows 10 came out.

Anyways, I ended up getting on the Microsoft Tech Support chat and went through this hour long process where the guy remoted in and did his thing and the issue was never fixed. I was basically told that I had two options, I could reinstall Windows 8 and then follow a special URL link he gave me to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, or I could purchase a copy of Windows 10 again. I was like, yeah right, I will deal with that tomorrow.

I am glad that Microsoft recognized this as a bug. I just went in and checked, and magically, my copy of Windows 10 Pro is activated and I didn't have to do anything.

 

[windwhirl]

Something that I want to know is whether this problem arises from Microsoft's activation servers or if it was a time-bomb on the client-side activation process...

EDIT: Nevermind, Microsoft's servers are acting up...

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...d/fe9a4ecf-2e2a-491d-a43e-b010c316d1c4?auth=1

 

[TheGuruStud]

Hmmm, no issue here...oh, right, activators don't have this problem XD XD XD

 

[Fierce Guppy]

Thanks, VSG. That suggestion worked.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Maybe the fix will be in the much anticipated 1809 update!

 

[Prima.Vera]

M$ really dropped the ball recently.... Unacceptable for a trillion USD company...

 

[INSTG8R]

Mine did it last night while I was playing FC5 with a friend. I just did the Activate>Troubleshoot and it came right back. Was certainly a surprise.

 

[Jozsef Dornyei]

One more bug feature:
If you use MS live and have setup account with password the new update overwrites the local password to the cloud password.
And your local password doesn't work anymore.
If you have multiple windows licenses registered to your cloud user than all windows will have the same password suddenly.

Don't be surprised if this happens to you. Cloud is the future - different passwords are the past.

 

[qubit]

It's funny, I didn't notice anything, read an article about it, checked the activation and sure enough it wasn't activated. Checked this morning and it was activated again.

Don'tcha just love how Microsoft can just reach into your computer from afar and fiddle around with it at will?

I haven’t turned my rig on in two days. I think before I turn it on and get back to gaming I will give MS a few more days to sort out the brokenness they added to what already was working.

Or just pull the network cable out of it. But then you have no internet.

 

[Imsochobo]

I got "activate windows" watermark, tried to reactivate and it told me I didn't have a pro license = auto annoyed thinking they downgraded it.

next day(today) still not activated but I could press activate and fixed.

 

[Vayra86]

Apparently it is fixed now.

 

[Durvelle27]

So does/did this only affect people that upgraded or both who upgraded and paid

I have a paid version but I haven’t booted it in weeks

 

[INSTG8R]

I’m still on 1803 and it happened to me last night in the middle of gaming I just hit the Troubleshooting and it came right back.

 

[Sir Alex Ice]

Got the watermark about not being activated, got bored with it the 2nd day and I bought a software bundle with Windows, Office and an anti-virus software. Changing the key and the activation went easy, so far I am activated.

It's hilarious that Microsoft needed a bug to undo the work of pirates, I was thinking that finally one of their updates could check if the activation was genuine or not.

 

[lexluthermiester]

This could have been a lot worse. Activation schemes are a wasted effort though. It's not stopping pirates and has always made headaches for legitimate users.

 

[Deeveo]

So does/did this only affect people that upgraded or both who upgraded and paid

I have a paid version but I haven’t booted it in weeks

Seems that it only affected upgrades from earlier versions of Windows. My PC, which was upgraded from Windows 8 pro, had this issue (actually got a new license code from MS support which fixed the problem).

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Meanwhile my "activated" version is running just hunky dory. In fact, very few of the bugs that affect customers seem to affect me.

Just another black mark against DRMed black box software, and another instance where the warez version works better then the official version.

 

[yeeeeman]

The best fix for this is to download microsoft toolkit, press ez-activator button and forget about it.

 

[INSTG8R]

Meanwhile my "activated" version is running just hunky dory. In fact, very few of the bugs that affect customers seem to affect me.

Just another black mark against DRMed black box software, and another instance where the warez version works better then the official version.

How do you figure? The majority of users got their key free from Win7-8. You’d have a legit argument if it were those 2 but Win10 was pretty much free for the majority of users no need for shady deals. I’ve activated my Win10 once and every subsequent format it just activated again. Unlike Win 7 where I purchased at least 4 copies over its lifetime.

 

[MrGenius]

Just had this happen to me this morning. Fixed itself before I had the chance to.