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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
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...

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

466 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T20:12:38+00:00

    I'm also getting this issue. Upgraded from Windows 8 Pro to 8.1 Pro to 10 Pro, now seeing the "you should have Home installed" message. Wasted half an hour on a call to support - if this is a known issue that should be surfaced more clearly

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T20:11:38+00:00

    I upgraded from Win 10 Home to Win 10 Pro in August. Since I purchased the upgrade from the Microsoft Store, I should certainly hope that buying directly from Microsoft means I have a valid product (and it happens to be in my Orders history on my Microsoft Store account).

    And yet it keeps saying that my activation key isn't valid even though I used a utility to verify my product ID and the key. I'm finding the "Activate Windows" notice in the bottom right of my screen to be very annoying since I need to get to work and it's going to be a pain in the butt having it covering part of my Paragraph Styles panel in InDesign.

    Oh, and it's also saying that I have Win 10 Home installed even though I upgraded to Win 10 Pro as stated above.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T20:08:58+00:00

    I have always been on windows 10 Pro it was a fresh install when i installed it on this pc hope they fix this soon and im in the UK so

    look's like this is happening all over

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T20:08:03+00:00

    Update from Windows 8 Pro, now Win 10 1809 -  suddenly deactivated and Home Version :-(

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments