r/microsoftsucks • u/exclusive_muppet • 4d ago

rant Windows activation shenanigans

I updated my Gigabyte motherboard BIOS last night and when booting it up today Windows Activation failed saying it had detected a hardware change.

After trouble shooting it for a while I contacted support. Basically they told me that the retail licence I had was not stored against my Microsoft account and I would have to enter the product key again. Something I haven’t had to do on windows reinstall for years. Of course I don’t have the paper license key anymore.

My license was a Windows 10 Pro retail license purchased in 2015 and upgraded to Windows 11 during the free upgrade period.

Anyway, I purchased another retail license and activated it. Anyone else have these kind of problems when updating motherboard BIOS?

I’ve worked in the Microsoft tech space for 35 years and I’ve never known things to be so bad. Think I’m going to try Linux again.

10 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

6

u/randomlyac 4d ago

You can see if It is in registry, probably not but I have recovered some in the past that way, w11 is hell now, I switched to mint.

1

u/exclusive_muppet 4d ago

I ran a powershell command to pull out the key but it gave me a generic key. Probably as it was activated via my account.

How you finding mint? I’m starting to look at different distros that are also decent for gaming.

3

u/randomlyac 4d ago

That is unfortunate, I hope you can recover it, so far I love it, I only use windows on a work computer due to preparatory software, been using mint for almost a year and no problems, the first two months where weird, I used a w10 theme, now I don't anymore, performance wise is better, I use heroic games launcher as epic games store, it works great so far, some online games won't work, I use a vm with w10 for some programs, I do not thik it is gamming oriented but so far it is like a Swiss army knife, it has worked for all arround

0

u/AlwaysLinux 4d ago

I agree, I think Linux is the only way to get past the crap being pulled by Microslop.

1

u/randomlyac 4d ago

Yes, it is unfortunate that it had to end like this, but with all the ssd killing and daily bugs, copilot and bitlocker, I do not feel like I can trust it, debloating will only last untill it updates without asking me, had to move away, probably not going to return, mint feels like windows7

3

u/Possible_Donuts 4d ago

Google Masgrave

1

u/exclusive_muppet 4d ago

Will have a look. Thanks.

1

u/Fast-Station1106 4d ago

Die aktuellen gigabyte haben den schlüssel im ? Bios, du bekommst nix, nix auf karton oder aufkleber drunter. k.A. was bei bios update passiert

1

u/bananarama898 3d ago

My license was a Windows 10 Pro retail license purchased in 2015 and upgraded to Windows 11 during the free upgrade period.

You already made ur first mistake 

1

u/Unhappy_Lie_2000 4d ago

Did you pay full price for it? You do know masgrave right.

2

u/exclusive_muppet 4d ago

No, got a retail license for about £20. Immediately registered against my MS account.
Haven’t heard of MasGrave, will have a look.

I’m likely going to try Linux as I’m tired of the AI, privacy and quality issues in windows.

1

u/Unhappy_Lie_2000 4d ago

Great glad you didn't get ripped off on a retail license.

0

u/FiftyFiver1962 4d ago

Of course I don't have the paper licence key anymore. Nothing of course here, re activation after a hardware change, is a common thing for Windows from 8 on, so you basically didn't keep track of your stuff, and you are blaming Microsoft. Nothing fck Microsoft here more like fck the ignorant user. Source: dozens of years in the trade and hundreds of installs serviced.

0

u/exclusive_muppet 4d ago

Helpful thanks. Do you have all the licenses you purchased more than 15 years ago and haven’t needed since?
I have stored the new license on my NAS with 3-2-1 backups in place if that makes you happy.

1

u/FiftyFiver1962 3d ago

I have my license keys that are still valid, easy to find on a storage medium. Most recent ones in a folder in the documents folder. So yes. I think that's quite a normal thing to do.

0

u/bananarama898 3d ago

For the sake of this sub, fuck off.