bought a windows license
built the pc
booted from usb
ask for license, put in bought license
installation seems normal
... windows isn't activated ... what?? how?? why is there a different key from the one i just entered?? and why does it still deny it when i try to change the key to my bought one?? y u do dis?😩

does anyone have an idea, what could be causing that?

@socksAndSandles exactly. You shouldn't have to pay for an OS

@dontPanic I could understand paying for windows if it A.) actually worked half the time and B.) didn't have FUCKING ADVERTISMENTS BUILT INTO THE GODDAMN THING JESUS CHRIST

Where did you buy the license?
If you bought an OEM key cheap online, it probably has been deactivated, because it has been used too often.

You should complain where you bought it. They usually send you a new one.

But that one will be probably deactivated too the next time you reinstall windows.

saw that coming 🙄😅
oh fuck off guys😂😏
besides all the bashing/joking etc. i really don't get this working and I don't know what might be causing the problem, so pls help😣

@RadiatorTwo yeah was a cheap OEM license from lizenzbilliger.de

@cb219 I once bought two OEM licenses. One doesn't work anymore. The other one I don't know. Don't want to test it.

I didn't bother to get a new one.
I found ... other methods of activating it.

@Pharilax does windows have ads now? XD

@dontPanic Built into the lockscreen and file explorer. How I can pay $100 for an OS license and still be advertised to is fucking mindblowing to me

download kmspico

What goddamn ads? Never seen an ad in file explorer, start menu or lock screen.

@cb219 was it the company which sold illegal keys and where the money went to the NPD?

@Pharilax that's bloody absurd if you ask me. Long live GNU/Linux then

@socksAndSandles @sarrea Not only those 'recommended' tiles, which are more often than not just bloatware or stupid games, but also advertisements like these. It's one thing if I upgrade free from Windows7 or Windows8, but if I buy a fully-priced license key it's fucking ridiculous to have targeted ads like these built in

@Pharilax hmm.. I don't recall ever seeing that. I might be blind though.

@Pharilax So far only the Insider Preview (Microsofts Beta program) of Win 10 has this.
Also it's not final that this will be in the next major update.

And as always it's going to be easy to get rid of it.

@RadiatorTwo I can't find any sources that say that those ads are only in the Insider Preview builds. The closest thing I found was this article: https://theverge.com/2017/3/...

which seems to suggest that these ads were included in the Creators Update, Version 1703, which was released over a year ago.

Regardless of whether you can turn them off, the business practice of including multiple different types of ads built directly into the operating system that people pay full price for is scummy.

@Pharilax I read that they've been testing it in the insider preview.
Since I've never seen those ads, I assumed it's in the current insider preview and not already in the main version...

Meh, I'll keep using Windows.
Linux sucks on Desktop.

@RadiatorTwo Windows has pros and cons. I use it myself after all.

As for linux, it all depends on the distro you choose. ;)

@Pharilax I tried them all. With probably every DE possible.
Last one was Arch with xfce.
Used it for a few weeks.
Got rid of it a few days ago.

@stop don't know, the site/company is quite trusted like highly ranked on google, many good user reviews, certificates and so on
will need to contact on Monday to see wth is going on

It happens sometimes just restart your PC and try activating manually

Call MS support

@cb219 i dont remeber it well. so you you can just ignore it.

Was the mainboard used before or is it a new one. Maybe there is an old/other Windows key already stored in EFI of the mainboard?

@lastNick mainboard is new and was shipped in a cover that seemed like new
... could possibly explain why there was already a different key installed when I entered my license, on the other hand the setup still asked for a license, so i don't know whether there could be anything true about it🤨

@cb219 Sry, I meant UEFI instead of EFI. There are instructions online how to obtain a license key from UEFI if there is one. It was only a guess since I heard something like it from a colleague and now I had to google it myself since I don’t use Windows.

@lastNick afaik windows wouldnt even try to show the question for the license key, if it was written to the efi.

tried a few "find my license key" programs
bios/uefi doesn't seem to have a key but i still have a key displayed either in settings or in those programs without additional options to choose from - just "here is your key, nothing found in bios/uefi, have fun with it" kind of style🙄😪🤔

@cb219 Return your ‘old‘ license and order a new one or just avoid anything from MS.

story with happy end
called the support, a nice lady helped me with the reactivation of the key
boom, done!😎
thanks nevertheless for the suggestions, guys!☺️

2 days trial and error, asking strangers and downloading ‚tools’ from the internet but in the end the problem was solved by calling the support.

@lastNick at least it's fixed now
😅
could also have been worse, like license corrupted/already used etc.
well in the end you are complete strangers but i am grateful that this community is still willing to help, even though this started as a rant😊😊
i just wanted to know what people thought about it and possible solutions
also somehow support didn't work till today so thought it was worth giving a shot to you guys🤷😅