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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.
Apparently Microsoft needs more of them.. Pay up or go to Home!
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
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?
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.
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.
Mine was 3.0 -> 3.1 -> 95 -> 98 -> XP - Win7 Pro - > Win10 Pro - Linux Mint.
Problem solved.
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, 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
Get out of the MS mindframe. In Linux, if you don't like the UI, choose another one.
Agreed about Gnome 3, that's why I don't use it.
Sadly Gnome 3 sucks more than Windows Vista
Sounds like a good reason to use KDE. :)
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Basic --> CP-642Bravo (Assembly) --> AN/UYK7&AN/UYK43 (Using CMS-2Y) --> VAX VMS --> Unix --> Minux --> DOS 3.0 --> DOS 3.1 --> DOS 4.0 --> DOS 4.01 --> DOS 5 --> Win 3.0 --> Win3.1 --> Win95 --> Win NT3.5 --> Win98 --> Win2000 --> WinXP --> Win Vista --> Win 7 --> Win 8.0 --> Win8.1 --> Win10
(And most variants of Suse, RedHat, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, and BSD)
I prefer Win98
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
If more people volunteered for ReactOS we could have a viable Windows Compatible OS.
Sounds like a good reason to use KDE. :)
Not in Red Hat. Deprecated.
Play several thousand Steam games.
Actually be productive.
Reboot when YOU want...
On the home side, Linux is scary and doesn't run the right games.
Really?
https://www.protondb.com/
o MSDOS
| Win 3.0
| Win 3.11
| WinNT 4.0
| Win 2000
| WinXP
v---+-> Win 7 Pro
+-> Linux
+-> OSX
+-> FreeBSD
I see no need to run MS's latest spyware that constantly breaks.
Things I have done and/or still do with Linux:
- Embedded software development (MP-LAB for Microchip's PIC microcontrollers)
- Schematic capture and PCB layout
- Monitor / maintain my finances
- Wrote and published a book
- Developed cover art for said book
- Have started writing / editing a second book
- Download & manage photos from my camera
- Play games
- Ran an emulator to relive my Tandy CoCo days
- Development of my web sites
Things I do when I'm at work and my employer forces me to use Windows 10:
- Wonder why people put up with this crap
- Curse a hell of a lot more than I normally like to do during peacetime.
And, you know, more or less run the Internet.
Sounds like I'm gonna have to ditch Red Hat / CentOS. Love KDE Plasma.
Yes, but it wasn't the entire bloody user base. Those people were choosing to do be beta testers, the people affected by this most certainly did not.
MS is now literally deciding that everyone is a beta tester whether they like it or not, and seem to be consistently putting out stuff that is nowhere near tested enough.
Microsoft is releasing lower quality stuff, relying on their telemetry to tell them what went wrong, and then if users are lucky Microsoft will fix something they should have found before release.
Essentially Microsoft doesn't give a damn if they break your machine, your busted machine costs less to them than doing proper QA.
If this is the quality of Microsoft's QA, they're going downhill very quickly.
And, you know, more or less run the Internet.
Not only 96.5% of web servers and 85% of cloud services, but also > 85% of all phones.
But not desktop computers though. Which account for what, 45% of web browsing activity, wher Linux has approx 1.5% of the market.
things you can do with linux: - open a browser
That's probably enough for a majority of users.
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
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.
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.
Nothing to rip out, just install the wanted GUI and select it when logging in.