Win 10 activation

spud17

I've not seen it in the flesh, but just had a phone call from a friend saying that the PC I lent him is saying Win 10 is no longer activated.
The PC originally had a legitimate Win 7 and was upgraded to Win 10 in 2016.
Another friend used it for several monthswhile we sorted out a new machine, no problems.
It's now a fresh install using all the same parts, and 3 weeks down the line it says no longer activated.
Any ideas?

grumpycrab

If your friend has a Microsoft account, this may be worth a shot (just to get to the troubleshooting activation part)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

forgotmyname

Its a fresh install and they ignored the prompts to go onto the ms site and activate it maybe?

Neil_Jones

Are you sure none of the hardware was changed? Windows 10 uses digital licences and this is tied primarily (but not exclusively) to the motherboard. If the board changes, Windows becomes unactivated even if its the same motherboard model as the previous one.

spud17

It was a fresh install by me of the latest version, 1709 Home 64bit
Absolutely no hardware changes.
No need to activate it because it's all done digitally and I also have a screenshot of the activation page, because I was going to stick it on Gumtree.

Rightly or wrongly, he's bought a key from ebay which has activated.
The key was cheaper than either one of us driving to the others house.
Yes, we know the key is an unknown quantity, it only has to work a few weeks.
It's a £30 PC after all's said and done.