Win 10 activation problems-Arrghhhh. :(

[Orionaut]

Sooo, While faffing around trying to solve a hardware problem I seem to have scrambled my windows activation.

I am getting the "Unable to access windows activation servers, please try later" error and when I click on the trouble-shooter, I am getting "You're running Win10 Pro on a device with an electronic license for win10 pro linked to your Microsoft account, please install win 10 pro" (Or words to that effect)

I have unplugged the HDD and carried out a clean installation using a spare HDD and everything has activated just fine.

Can I fix this by using a USB win 10 install to carry out an "Upgrade" over my existing win 10 installation?

Or is a clean install the only fix (Ideally I would like to keep my current C drive, so if I can fix it without having to wipe everything out that would be best)

I have a second question, but would prefer to resolve the current issue before approaching this..

Any advice gratefully received....

 

[something daft already!!]

It probably wont install over the top. Are you getting a watermark in the bottom right?

 

[TWiNKLeT0Es]

Could always try a reset. Settings - Recovery - Reset this PC

Although i would let it do its thing in the background as it does reactivate after some time.