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I'm having trouble activating Windows 11 Home after a clean installation on a PC that has an existing Windows digital license.
I still have the previous Windows 10 installation on another drive on the same physical PC. I booted it and confirmed:
Windows 10 Home is activated.
slmgr /dlv reports OEM:DM.
slmgr /ato succeeds.
Settings → Activation says: "Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account."
This is the same Microsoft account I'm using with Windows 11.
The motherboard and hardware have not been changed.
I then clean-installed Windows 11 Home. During setup, I signed in with the same Microsoft account as soon as possible and selected "I don't have a product key". I selected Windows 11 Home when prompted.
However, after installation Windows 11 is not activated and reports:
0xC004F213 — Windows reported that no product key was found on your device.
slmgr /dlv on Windows 11 reports the RETAIL channel, with different licensing IDs from the Windows 10 installation.
I also tried the Microsoft Product Activation Portal. After entering the Installation ID correctly multiple times, it eventually reports:
"Unfortunately, we cannot complete the transaction as our records do not recognize this as a valid product."
The Activation Troubleshooter also does not resolve the issue.
Since Windows 10 on the same hardware is currently activated with a digital license explicitly linked to my Microsoft account, I'm wondering why the Windows 11 Home installation is not being recognized.
Is there anything else I can check locally, or does this indicate a problem with Microsoft's activation/digital-license records that requires intervention on Microsoft's side?
I would prefer not to purchase another license, since the existing digital license is still active on this same PC.
An OEM:DM licence usually indicates a pre-installed Windows licence on the motherboard by the PC manufacturer, and that should re-activate automatically any time Windows is reinstalled.
Download the free ShowKeyPlus app from the Microsoft Store.
Please provide a screenshot of that app window and please hide any product key in the screenshot.
Hi, thanks for the answer.
This is the screenshot of the app window in Windows 10:
And this is Windows 11:
That is very strange, ShowKeyPlus cannot find the OEM key on your motherboard.
Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
Run this command in Command Prompt and press Enter.
slmgr /rilc
Then, restart your PC again and try the troubleshoot option to reactivate Windows.
I ran the command successfully, restarted, and after a minute the system crashed (Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart). It then restarted multiple times and presumably updated. Then I tried to reactivate it using the Troubleshoot option, it says the same thing: We weren't able to activate windows and We can't find any devices linked to your Microsoft account that can be used for reactivating.
On the Windows 10 installation.
Click your Start Button, then just type powershell and on the resulting list, right click PowerShell and select 'Run as Administrator'.
Paste this into PowerShell and press Enter.
(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey
Does that command find the OEM product key?
If so, note it down and try activating Windows 11 with the product ley.
To clarify: In the past, I had Windows 10 installed on an HDD. I then installed a fresh Windows 11 on a new SSD.
It couldn't be activated, so I made a Microsoft account to link the digital license to it.
I then logged in with it to Windows 11, it activated itself and worked until this reinstall.
If the process with PowerShell does not resolve the problem, I think your only option will be to contact Microsoft Support directly, they may be able to find the licence linked to your account and reactivate Windows for you.
The command returned nothing. Actually that was why I did the thing with making the Microsoft account and linking the license in the first place, but I confirmed it now anyway.
Thank you for your effort. Do you have an idea how to actually contact Microsoft Support? I tried the Get Help app, but the only options there were the interactive guides and PA Portal. I also tried searching, but only found this as the closest option.
Their support is very hard to contact, I am not familiar with the methods to contact their support in all locations, try to find a local support phone number in your location, or in the Get Help app, repeatedly ask the bot to 'speak to a person', you may eventually get a link to speak to their support via live chat support.
