Windows 10 suddenly deactivated

Sumit 44,316 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2018-11-08T11:09:46+00:00

Hi,

There is an ongoing issue about Windows 10 suddenly shown as deactivated. The affected users need not to do anything as it is a known issue. Here is what was told by Microsoft Chat support:

Microsoft has just released an Emerging issue announcement about current activation issue related to Pro edition recently. This happens in Japan, Korea, American and many other countries.I am very sorry to inform you that there is a temporary issue with Microsoft's activation server at the moment and some customers might experience this issue where Windows is displayed as not activated.

Our engineers are working tirelessly to resolve this issue and it is expected to be corrected within one to two business days

Thanks to Vijay_Verma and Danielfor the information.

Thanks to PaulSey..., a Microsoft employee in this thread which has explanation about this in more detail:

We are aware of reports that some customers’ Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise machines are not recognizing their licenses as activated. Users may receive the following notification: “Error: you are running Windows 10 Pro, but you have valid digital license for Windows 10 Home," or one of the following error codes 0X803F8001, 0xC004C003.

We are actively working to resolve this within 24 hours. You can still use your PC; however, the watermark will appear until activation is restored. Thank you for your patience.

We will update this post with additional information as needed and once activations are restored.

Edit 1: Users report that Windows activation troubleshooter might say You have a Windows 10 Home license but you are running Windows 10 Pro. You are advised to ignore that message and wait for the fix.


Edit 2: Update as of morning 11/9/2018 Morning EST.

Any affected customer can continue to use Windows 10 Pro as usual, and the watermark will disappear within 24 hours as activation is automatically restored.

To manually resolve the issue:  Select the Start button, select Settings > Update & security > Activation, and then select Troubleshoot to run the Activation Troubleshooter.  (If the device is already activated, the Troubleshoot option will not appear.)

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Licensing and activation

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Anonymous
2018-11-08T21:50:17+00:00

We are aware of reports that some customers’ Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise machines are not recognizing their licenses as activated. Users may receive the following notification: “Error: you are running Windows 10 Pro, but you have valid digital license for Windows 10 Home," or one of the following error codes 0X803F8001, 0xC004C003.

We are actively working to resolve this within 24 hours. You can still use your PC; however, the watermark will appear until activation is restored. Thank you for your patience.

We will update this post with additional information as needed and once activations are restored.

Paul...

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T18:18:32+00:00

    Got the same problem.  The error code is 0xC004C003.  I upgraded from genuine Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 10 Pro during the free upgrade period.  The Activation page in Settings says it's Windows 10 Pro but the troubleshooter is saying "We found a Windows 10 Home digital license for this device running Windows 10 Pro".

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T18:17:49+00:00

    I also received a deactivation error code: 0xC004C003.

    What happens if you restart your PC will it restart or fail?

    Mine restarted without problems. But the error persists.

    Thank you.

    When I was troubleshooting this activation issue Microsoft was pointing me to the Store, to purchase a product key.

    Very disappointed with Microsoft, spent many hours last week fixing Office 365 issues and now this.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T18:17:22+00:00

    We all have now generic key from Microsoft...

    VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

    Check the last digits... how to recover my genuine key from Bios? I am using Dell machine....

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    7 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T18:15:56+00:00

    Hello, Yes I have same problem..

    Users report that Windows activation troubleshooter might say You have a Windows 10 Home license but you are running

    Windows 10 Pro. You are advised to ignore that message and wait for the fix.

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