Your Windows license will expire soon. You need to activate Windows in settings.

Anonymous
2018-04-05T02:42:32+00:00

Hi, my name is Niya and yesterday I went on my computer so I could watch some YouTube and when I started up my computer a message popped up saying: Your Windows License will expire soon. You need to activate Windows in settings. I clicked close and it popped up again. I decided to go to settings and I saw it said Windows is activated using your organization's activation service. A few month's ago about September or October I got my computer's hard drive replaced and they people who repaired my computer installed Windows 10 Pro on it. Once I got my computer repaired I installed the Windows 10 creators update. I do not think that caused the problem. My Windows 10 Pro is activated because I checked in settings and by going to This PC>Right clicking on This PC>Properties. It says Windows is activated. I am very confused on why I am getting the message. I do not own a copy of Windows 10. The people who fixed my computer and replaced my hard drive installed Windows 10 on my computer. Is there any way I could fix my computer and stop the message from popping up and not have my Windows License expire? Here are some pictures of the message. 

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Install and upgrade

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-04-05T02:49:02+00:00

    Hi. I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems, but I'm here to help.

    This means that you have a volume license, which expires after a certain number of days. Is this your personal computer?

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  2. Greg Carmack 24,780 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-04-05T02:58:48+00:00

    Hi Niya. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 8 year Windows MVP, here to help you.

    Someone has installed a Volume License Key on the PC meant only to be legally used by organizations and businesses. That's why the error message in red means.

    What whoever did this apparently doesn't know or care is that this means of activation must connect regularly to the organization's server to reactivate - like checking in with home to make sure the PC is still part of the network it's licensed for. So whoever did this has mess things up, since they could have legally upgraded Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro with a Digital License - for all we know there is one and the VLKey is messing it up right now.

    What I would do is go offline to remove the Volume License key and then restore the Generic Product Key that is used to activate withe the Digital License issued by Upgrade. Then we'll see if it activates:

    1. Go offline by opening Action center at the right end of Task Bar, then clicking on Airplane mode to turn off internet.
    2. Next type CMD in Start Search, right click to Run as Administrator, then right click to copy and paste this command in and press Enter: slmgr -upk
    3. Restart PC and then insert Generic Product Key for WIndows 10 Pro from here: http://winaero.com/blog/generic-key-to-install-...

    This sets everything back to default so that if there is a Digital License issued during a proper Upgrade it should reactivate within a few days. If not we will need to try something else:

    What Windows Operating System came on that exact model PC originallly - you can google it's make and model to read the specs to find out. If it says Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 Home version then that is a clue you need to reinstall Home instead of Pro to try to activate. We might even be able to still activate it fresh with the old OS Product Key read from the BIOS or on the Windows 7 COA sticker on the PC.

    If nothing else works you may need to reinstall the licensed Windows edition that came with that PC, or buy a copy of Windows 10 Home to activate it.

    I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-04-05T03:19:14+00:00

    Yes, this is my personal home computer.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-04-05T03:21:01+00:00

    I am going to try the first way you said but if that way does not work when I go to control panel I know one part says back up and restore to Windows 7 but I do not know what version of Windows 7.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-04-05T03:23:53+00:00

    One more question, when i restart my computer how would it look when I have to insert the generic product key?

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