Help reinstalling Windows

takman

I had the same problem when I did a clean install of windows 10 after an upgrade and it wouldn't activate. Microsoft said the only way to do it was for me to reinstall windows 8 and then upgrade again.

djmsemcgrath

I had the same problem as takman. I assumed it was because I deleted the partitions but perhaps not. I was definitely connected to the internet, because I was able to look at help pages.

I had upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 legitimately, from a genuine Windows 7 product, and had been using 10 for about 4 months. It was, to the best of my knowledge, activated and working properly. However, the clean install of 10 failed to activate. I read on the Microsoft help pages that they wanted me to reinstall 7, upgrade, and then try the clean reinstall of 10 again, but a) no because that's ridiculous and b) I actually don't have an installation CD for 7, so once I'd reset my laptop, there's no way to get it back.

I thought I'd post a warning in here that it appears that occasionally, the clean installs don't activate, and that can create serious problems for some people that wouldn't be able to get around it.