How do I activate my Win 11 laptop

Question

My Win 11 home laptop has worked fine for the last 6 months (I activated Windows with no issues oroginally) but now is telling me that it needs activating

When I try activating - I am told :

What is happening and why am I unable to activate windows ?

Answer 1

The error code "0x80072EE7" indicates a problem connecting to the Windows activation servers.

Ensure your laptop is connected to the internet with a stable connection. Try restarting your router and laptop.

Check if the product key you're using is valid and for the correct version of Windows 10.

• Open Settings > Update & Security > Activation.
• Click on Troubleshoot.

Open Command Prompt as administrator.

• Type the following commands one by one and press Enter after each:

ipconfig /flushdns

netsh winsock reset

Temporarily disable Firewall to activate.

Answer 2

Hello Steve Q

Open Command Prompt as Administrator again, paste this into Command Prompt and press Enter:

wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey

check if the command finds your product key, if so, go to the activation page in the Settings App and enter that there.

Check your Internet connection: Make sure you’re connected to the internet and the connection is stable. You might want to try connecting to a different network if possible.

Check your firewall settings: Sometimes, a firewall or antivirus software can block the connection to the activation servers. Try temporarily disabling your firewall or antivirus to see if it resolves the issue.

Reset the network: Go to “Settings” -> “Network & Internet” -> “Status”. Click on “Network reset” and then on “Reset now”. After the reset, restart your computer and try to activate Windows again.

Use the command prompt: Open the command prompt as an administrator and type the following commands one by one, pressing Enter after each one:

netsh winhttp reset proxy

net start w32time

w32tm /resync

Best Regards,

Hania Lian

Answer 3

Can you share us the license type you're using?

Usually this error message appears with volume license which is not for personal computers, unless your system is part of company or network. If your system is part of network, please contact your IT admin to resolve the issue.

If this is a personal system, I suggest to get retail license key from nearest Microsoft Store online/offline.