Windows 11 Not Activated After 24H2 Upgrade Through WSUS

Question

I am testing out the WSUS upgrade 'Windows 11, version 25H2 x64 2025-05B' after the previous version not working at all (xxx 04B) and this one does actually upgrade the PCs which are on 23H2. After being upgraded they lose their activation status and have to be manually reactivated using the same key (Education MAK) they were originally installed with.

Answer 1

It sounds like you're experiencing a common issue where Windows 11 devices lose activation status after upgrading to version 24H2 through WSUS.

Possible Solutions:

Reactivation Script:

Create a PowerShell script that runs after upgrade to reactivate using your MAK key:

powershell

slmgr /ipk YOUR-MAK-KEY-HERE

slmgr /ato

WSUS Post-Install Command:

Configure WSUS to run the activation commands after the upgrade completes

Check Licensing Service:

Ensure the Software Protection service is running after upgrade

Verify the license status with slmgr /dlv

Alternative Activation Method:

If these are domain-joined Education machines, consider using KMS activation instead of MAK

Root Cause:

This typically happens because:

The upgrade process doesn't properly migrate activation status

The product key gets reset during major version upgrades

There might be a mismatch between the edition being upgraded and the target edition