Your windows license will expire soon

Merlin5 · 20 Mar 2018 at 10:30

I'm getting this message as of last night. There's no activate button though. I bought this Dell laptop end of last year from Gumtree with Windows 10 Pro on it. The seller was selling several of the same model at the same time so I'm assuming they were originally licensed to a business. Not sure how to go about fixing this and don't want to be paying for a license I wasn't expecting to buy when I bought the machine. I do remember saying to the seller there's no CD if I wanted to reinstall and he said something about windows anniversary.

Anyway, I found some possible workarounds by disabling things like Windows services and updates but I'm not sure if that's the way I should approach this. Any suggestions?

Glanza · 20 Mar 2018 at 10:56

Does it say your activated when you check in the about section?

andicole0 · 20 Mar 2018 at 11:00

Reselling of a Windows license from an OEM build is not allowed. Seller should have provided a key, either a new OEM key or retail key.
Microsoft have probably identified your license as invalid and is going to disable it.
You'll probably have to buy a new one.
Andi.

Sp00n · 20 Mar 2018 at 11:06

Is there a COA sticker on the bottom?

Glanza · 20 Mar 2018 at 11:32

If there is I'd imagine it should be a refurb key / sticker instead of the normal Win 10 one.

Merlin5 · 20 Mar 2018 at 11:37

Ill check the about section tonight. If I have to buy a new one, could I buy this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-...qid=1521545497&sr=8-5&keywords=windows+10+pro

and use the product key where it says change product key on settings without having to uninstall windows and installing the one I buy?

cheesyboy · 20 Mar 2018 at 11:42

You can get a cheaper Win 10 Pro licence elsewhere. Paid about £8 for mine from psngames.org. Arrived in about 48 hours.

Merlin5 · 20 Mar 2018 at 11:45

Sp00n said:
Is there a COA sticker on the bottom?

Nope, just a Dell Service Tag label. Unless the COA is in the battery compartment.

Merlin5 · 20 Mar 2018 at 11:50

cheesyboy said:
You can get a cheaper Win 10 Pro licence elsewhere. Paid about £8 for mine from psngames.org. Arrived in about 48 hours.

That sounds awesome. What about this one,

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Windows-Pr...qid=1521545497&sr=8-2&keywords=windows+10+pro

will it work on my currently installed Win 10 Pro by just typing into the 'change product key' box? And what is ESD version, is it something like Electronic Software Download version?

cheesyboy · 20 Mar 2018 at 12:10

You won't have to re-install. I had to phone microsoft to get my key activated, but they did it with no problems.

that looks like a good deal.

edscdk · 20 Mar 2018 at 12:20

windows 8 / 10 keys are in the bios there are various tools that will read them if you are lucky he used a dodgy image but you still have a good key in the bios

rweverything I think one of the tools is called.. get the serial and try retyping it

Merlin5 · 20 Mar 2018 at 17:10

Well, this is my about screen. The product ID is there and nothing that says activated but I assume it is?

bremen1874 · 20 Mar 2018 at 17:20

You want to go to Settings -> Update & Security -> Activation

Merlin5 · 20 Mar 2018 at 17:41

bremen1874 said:
You want to go to Settings -> Update & Security -> Activation

No activate button I can find. But still getting that pop up message.

bremen1874 · 20 Mar 2018 at 17:47

Appears to be a corporate key. Not something that should be using.

If the machine is bios licensed for Windows 10 you may be able to use one of the default keys Microsoft publish (Google 'windows 10 default key' or similar).

demonix · 20 Mar 2018 at 17:52

A @bremen1874 just said, the key being used was activated using a server that was used by the business that owned the laptop before and since that can no longer be contacted the license is no longer valid, but considering the age of the laptop it might have a windows 7 key (most likely in the battery compartment) that could be used to activate it as long as the original key is a pro key.

Merlin5 · 20 Mar 2018 at 18:33

Thanks bremen. I found the default win 10 key and it appears to be something to use when upgrading from Win 10 Home to Pro, and only to test/try Pro after which you have to buy a valid Pro key. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

demonix said:
A @bremen1874 just said, the key being used was activated using a server that was used by the business that owned the laptop before and since that can no longer be contacted the license is no longer valid, but considering the age of the laptop it might have a windows 7 key (most likely in the battery compartment) that could be used to activate it as long as the original key is a pro key.

Well, well, well, look what I found. Spot on mate, spot on. There it is in the battery compartment, win 7 key AND it's Pro!

So does this mean I can now activate by using the change product key and continue using Win 10 Pro?
Also, where I've painted in blue, there's 3 and 5 digits at the end of the product key sticker, like XXX-XXXXX. I don't know what these are. Could they be part of some other product key under the sticker?

TallPaul1878 · 20 Mar 2018 at 18:35

I recommend contacting Microsoft. They are usually very helpful about activation problems

Paul11 · 20 Mar 2018 at 18:37

i had the same on my dell laptop with 10 pro on it

solved it with a £5 ebay search

edscdk · 20 Mar 2018 at 20:03

Merlin5 said:
Thanks bremen. I found the default win 10 key and it appears to be something to use when upgrading from Win 10 Home to Pro, and only to test/try Pro after which you have to buy a valid Pro key. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Well, well, well, look what I found. Spot on mate, spot on. There it is in the battery compartment, win 7 key AND it's Pro!

So does this mean I can now activate by using the change product key and continue using Win 10 Pro?
Also, where I've painted in blue, there's 3 and 5 digits at the end of the product key sticker, like XXX-XXXXX. I don't know what these are. Could they be part of some other product key under the sticker?

You can try and type that key in, there are usually 2 numbers on the sticker you want the one that's equal numbered blocks..

I bet it will not work, they probably used a corporate / msdn key to upgrade or install windows 10... So your pc's w7 key was never used to upgrade to 10... And they stopped the free upgrade a few months ago