Upgrading Bios can lose activation. It just did it to me. I just did a fresh install. windows was signed into Microsoft account. My MSI software did a bios update and then walla! Activation gone!
Windows activation after bios update
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Anonymous
After updating the bios, im unable to activate windows 11, which was already activated. You're telling me I can't update the bios without windows freaking out. I paid for this product and now the only thing the troubleshooter is telling me to do is to just buy another product key. How the hell do I go about fixing this since windows services is just an utter joke? I'm constantly having to deal with fixing **** issues with windows 11. This product is a big joke. The "get help" app does nothing but direct me to exactly what their windows activation page is on the website.
Contacting support did nothing. They told me it's not their issue. Quality service M$
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings
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Anonymous
2023-01-14T17:45:12+00:00 -
Anonymous
2023-01-01T03:24:37+00:00 Good stuff.
Afraid to test it though LOL.
I would certainly like to not live in fear of flashing my motherboard without having to deal with the circus that is now Microsoft support.
Copied the fix to a text file for future use...
Thank you for sharing this information Manderson !
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Anonymous
2023-01-01T00:25:07+00:00 I just had the exact same problem as everyone else here, built a new PC with the Z690 Gigabyte UD AX motherboard, activated windows, installed a BIOS update, and then windows was no longer activated. I had the same issue where the trouble shooter failed to connect to servers but then I found this post on another forum (abbreviated to the important part):
"To fix it, I ran "slmgr /rilc" in an administrator command prompt, rebooted, then went to activation in Settings, clicked on Troubleshoot, and then clicked the link saying something like "I have changed my hardware", and was able to re-activate."
These steps also worked for me. No call to customer support :)
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Anonymous
2022-12-23T17:17:05+00:00 I had the exact same issue. I am using a home-built pc with an MSI MPG Z690 Pro Carbon Wifi mobo. I updated my bios just a few days ago using the usb method, and after that it deactivated my login pin and and deactivated my windows 11. When running the troubleshooter and selecting 'hardware change', it would fail to connect to the MS servers.
I called support, they walked me through the process of entering a Default Key. After activating the default key and restarting my pc, the windows activation troubleshooter worked just fine and I was able to activate windows through logging into my MS account. As a side note, I purchased a legit version of Windows 10 home several years ago. The support person i spoke to mentioned that the free upgrade to windows 11 was just a 'free trial period' and that i would have to reactivate every now and then, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Perhaps im misunderstanding the nature of the current version of windows 11, but I was under the impression that you ALWAYS got a free upgrade to the full version of the newest windows when they released. Like i said, perhaps im misunderstanding the nature of W11 and its just a trial version right now. Who knows. Anyways I hope this helps you or someone else out. Cheers! -
Anonymous
2022-12-19T17:59:12+00:00 Same happens to me with a MSI Tomahawk Z690, every time that I update the BIOS.
I can't believe we face this kind of issues when we buy a legit key for WIndows,