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Some Windows 10 Pro Users Say Their PCs Are No Longer Activated And Are Been Prompted To Downgrade To Windows 10 Home (betanews.com)
If you're having trouble activating your Windows 10 Pro computer today, you're not alone. Forums and social media networks are getting flooded with complaints from users who say their machines have automatically become deactivated. Users say they are having trouble connecting with Microsoft's activation servers, with some saying they are being prompted to downgrade to Windows 10 Home. According to Microsoft Answers, the company is working to resolve the issue. Only users who had upgraded their computers to Windows 10 by using product keys of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 appear to be impacted.
Probably because my upgrade path was Win7 -> Win8 -> Win10 -> Win10 Pro.
Apparently Microsoft needs more of them.. Pay up or go to Home!
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
just use linux, christ.
Windows 10 Pro.... being prompted to downgrade to Windows 10 Home
It gets even worse... just the other day, my Debian box prompted me to downgrade it to Windows 10 Pro.
On Monday I was at their office fixing an unrelated issue when I noticed the desktop graffiti/banner saying they weren't activated. Weird. I plugged in the Win10 product key on the case sticker and it activated again. I just summed it up to another M$ fuck-up, didn't know it was as widespread as it is.
I'm so glad I use Linux at home =D
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
https://answers.microsoft.com/...
but it's causing chaos in some places -
watermarks all over ... damn you
who where what when now?
This is what happens when a company moves from testing their own stuff to leaving the users to be beta testers.
They're literally passing partially tested over the fence and letting users deal with their QA issues.
This is also why I'll never own a Windows 10 machine which isn't running as a VM ... it's my machine, and I'll make decisions about when it is updated.
Fuck you, Microsoft.
I see stories like this and I have to ask myself, "Is Windows still viable as a development platform? Will it continue to be viable as a development platform in the future?"
I develop exclusively on Linux (some libraries in C/C++, some Python applications, Java server and desktop stuff, occasionally dabble in mobile, etc.). I have some colleagues who use Mac OS X as their platform and are happy with that. I do know a small number of developers working on Windows, but as far as I can tell they don't particularly like Windows as a development platform, especially those who have had to move to Windows 10 (precisely because they no longer control the updates and stuff can just randomly break).
I guess, all I can say is, "wow."
There was an XBox Live outage a few days ago where all digital purchases couldn't be verified. If you had the disc you could play online fine - but if you had purchased the game or even the DLC of a disc game then it was non playable as the service couldn't determine if you owned it or not.
I wonder if these issues are related.
(Also interesting that even if you've successfully downloaded and installed the game on their closed system they're constantly re-validating you)
It took several attempts for me to activate 10 Pro for Workstations last night, first attempt accepted the key then promptly reverted back to before I entered it. Next attempt accepted the key and stored it, but refused to activate "Server refused the connection attempt." Called in, the new call-in process is the stupidest thing ever - hand holding through putting in the product key (never mind that you would have already been staring at the screen with a activation challenge just to get the product activation phone number...) Gave up after having to confirm every. bloody. step. of. the. way that I knew what I was doing and had a product key and entered it correctly... Tried online activation again, NXDOMAIN response for the activation servers. Waited 10 minutes, server refused connection attempt. 10 more minutes and it auto-activated, followed by an error saying the server couldn't be resolved (?)
It doesn't help that they discontinued the awesome self-help "mobile" website for activation earlier this year - where you could copy and paste the challenge and response between your web browser and the phone-in activation window.
Microposs is making sure no one will be using their crap anymore by the end of the year, This year.
This Microposs is getting better by the day.
YOUR FIRED !!!
Nice to know that the OS has a dependency on other people over the interwebs not f*cking up, and still existing so you can simply turn your computer on and use it.
I for one, am glad I don't use an OS with such a f*cked up dependency.
Linux, internet or no internet, it still works. kernel.org goes away? Still works. Botched kernel upgrade? Roll back to previous version (in the time it takes to press reset and press an arrow key to select the older kernel), still works.
Microsoft - Activate or die. Looks like you don't even stay activated if things don't work out at their end. Good to know.
I bought a Win 10 Pro non-upgrade key. Was activated. Today I am not activated. Worth reporting to MS?
I've been buying my WIN 10 Pro licences from UK eBay vendors, and they've been working fine for a year or so. Less than $5 CAD. I believe our UK friends have different rules about transferring keys from decommissioned PCs-- they can actually resell otherwise unused used licences.
for using a licensed copy.
Windows users put up with quite a lot.
On the business side, stuff like this is regarded as just a cost of doing business.
On the home side, Linux is scary and doesn't run the right games.
I am having that same problem on a new PC which came with Windows 10 Pro installed. Just opened the box last night. -Mike
"Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows. Ever"
Remember that? I was wondering how they want to make it come true, but this is how it's done: By eventually making using it SO uncomfortable that even the most die-hard fan eventually switches to something else.
Hey, it worked for advertisers trying harder and harder to convince everyone to use adblockers, and lo and behold, they succeeded too eventually.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
"Windows 10, by Microsoft. A new day, a new fuck up"
It's truly amazing how much abuse some users are willing to take just to use Windows. The only explanation that makes any sense at this point is that they like the abuse.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Windows 7 user here, so I don't quite understand how this problem could happen unless your Win 10 Pro machine calls home when it's powered up, restored from hibernation or sleep, or at random times, and has lost the Win 10 Pro upgrade key.
This problem and the bricking of some PCs that updated to 1809 makes me wonder about ever updating to Win 10. That version has apparently been pulled. Microsoft's QC army, read end users, reported this problem to the development team and it was ignored. A second group of Windows developers is working on 1903, or whatever it's called, presumably for a spring, 2019, update. What surprises will that version have? We should be excited to learn about new problems.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
How long does it take to make sure that the story heading is grammatically correct?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law - Aleister Crowley
If more people volunteered for ReactOS we could have a viable Windows Compatible OS.
On the home side, Linux is scary and doesn't run the right games.
Really?
https://www.protondb.com/
Here's my upgrade path: MS Windows 95 -> MS Windows 95 OSR2 -> MS Windows 98 -> MS Windows 98 SE -> Linux.
It's actually perfectly reasonable to use hardware acceleration by default when the hardware claims to support it, the problem there is shoddy hardware making false claims.
This is also caused by black box security products, they claim to do something (encrypt your data) but don't disclose enough about how and just expect you to trust them.. How many more vendors are hiding crap like this that just hasn't been discovered yet?
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
The whole idea that i need to depend on a outside party whom i lease my software from , so that I own nothing and have no control over my own computing environment does not sit well with me. It seems it should not sit well with anyone, but perhaps I'm just getting to be an old foggie.
âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
Not that I use M$ anymore -- dumped M$ over 15 years ago at home and left a mixed/M$ shop 6 years ago, but it seems that M$ might have their Subscription OS mechanism up and running. I mean, they've already implemented Subscription M$Office so the Subscription M$OS is probably in their corporate pipeline. Just an early test. (And why does your PC have to check in with M$ "Activation Servers" anyway? It wasn't like that in the "old days".)
A fresh format install of Win 10 Pro includes candy crush and other crap by default. If I am the product (my eyeballs), then the OS should be free. Why does a "Pro" OS come with all this bloat?
I wish there was a bump button on slash dot to say #metooslashdot .. something like that. ;-) happened to me last week on a few laptops. i just waited for the msft azure network to self heal..
I wasted a few hours on this insanity this morning.
My final solution (tried many options) was to use some tools from Ratborus.
KMS Clean to remove my existing key, and then W10 Digital Activation with KMS38 option.
It now says:
Windows(R), Professional edition:
Volume activation will expire 1/18/2038
Now where do I send an Invoice to Microsoft for wasting my morning on this BS?
If you need a copy of KMS Tools Portable, it's here
https://www.solidfiles.com/fol...
The password is part of the filename, so for the latest version:
KMS_Tools_Portable_01.11.2018_password_1234567890987654321.7z
The password is 1234567890987654321
Hard to stick up for Microsoft anymore, heads should have rolled long time ago. Maybe not enough of the Windows team take anything seriously anymore. Used to be you activated Windows once and that was it, now it appears it calls home every time Windows update is run and if it can't confirm the license it kicks you out. Yeah it really makes me want to use even more Microsoft services, NOT.
M$ is working on making you PAY for Windows every 6 months to one year. The software that controls this hiccuped and deactivated Windows. Soon you will be getting warnings that your PC is about to become deactivated unless you update (Pay) your subscription. Yeah, Fuck M$. Already made the move from Win7 to Mint. Enough of this horse shit.
What a colossal embarassment on their part. The whole idea of Windows 10 is going to be the downfall of Microsoft.
It's Office that's keeping users captive to Windows. A shitty (and costly) OS experience only nudges those who can closer to pursuing productivity alternatives.
No no no, the renewals are 180 days if you have Volume Licensed copies, Like Enterprise and Windows 10 LTSB. Then you have to check in with your local KMS (Key Management Server) within that time frame or you get the scary "Not Genuine" and "You might be a victim of software counterfeiting" messages.
Right now, for Retail and OEM Windows installs, the license for Windows lasts as long as your computer HWID stays the same. However, changing enough of your hardware generates a new HWID and you have to call up MS and beg for a new license. Which right now they do, but I'm sure that'll stop at some point.
Seems to be fixed now, multiple users reporting successful reactivation (including me!).
Yes, really. The page you linked to is basically advertising a 50% success rate (and at what performance degradation).
When MS has a problem your games are the only things to have to consider.
Do work on real OS.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Professional operating systems do not deactivate themselves for specious reasons. Therefore, Win 10 Pro is not worthy of the "Pro" nomenclature, and customers of Win 10 Pro are not getting what they paid for.
Those "cry babies" you refer to? They are more accurately known as irate customers who paid for a professional-grade product, and damn sure have the right to be mad when shit like this happens.
Clean activation has been a thing for MANY years. Forget whatever you imagine to be so and visit appropriate fora like MDL. .isos (checksums, what are they?) over the years and activated with no problems. If in doubt, take a clean snapshot before activating so you can revert. Remember MSFT and AV companies flag activators as malware. Know what you are doing and that's no worry.
Windows has its uses so most of my installs live in VMs on Linux hosts which don't connect to the internet. I've downloaded many clean
Take my post for nothing but do find out for yourself.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
I see no reason to activate Windows conventionally and haven't in many years. I don't need to give MSFT access to my installs so I don't.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Some users require Windows applications. CAD software comes to mind. I use whatever serves me with zerofucks given, but I prefer to contain Windows in VMs and I take snapshots before updating. My VMs aren't connected to the internet.
I don't activate Windows online. Clean .isos and activators work fine.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Truth. I never bother with online activation and I prefer not to connect my Windows VMs to the internet.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."