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.

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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
    2018-11-08T20:55:19+00:00

    I went into my MS account and I should have 2 devices listed, I only show 1 device.  It is my laptop and it shows W10 Pro installed.  My desktop is gone from my devices.  I see a record of my desktop in my account and it shows that there is/was a w10 Pro installed on it but it does not list my desktop as a valid device.  My laptop is working with W10 Pro and is not asking for "Activation" nor is it claiming I have W10 Home as does my desktop device.

    I hope this bit of information helps.

    Elmer

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T20:46:32+00:00

    Same I have windows 10 pro on my Dell Precision but all of a sudden today it tells me that I have to activate Windows 10

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T20:42:31+00:00

    at least i'm not the only one getting the activation error

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-11-08T20:41:45+00:00

    OK this is the error I am a bit annoyed but glad this is here. Whilst I am happy that this answer is here, the one thing I really hate with Microsoft Support is the total lack of personal contact with a member of there staff. I feel like Microsoft simple don't care about their customers I even pay for their assure customer support each year. I have spent 25 miniutes waiting to speak to a human on their support number and gave up. I am not happy, a quick human voice to say hey bud we know about it and were sorting it out would be great.

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