Windows activation issue

Question

I bought two HP Laptops for my mother and myself at the beginning of the year.  They came with Windows 10S installed.  I updated both of them to Windows 10 Home.  My laptop has continued to work fine without any issues.  My mothers laptop decided to do a Bios update and when it started back up it had reverted to Windows 10s again.  I ran through the process again to set it up for Windows 10 Home.

Recently it told her she needed to activate it again.  When I logged into her computer, it indicates it is using Windows 10 Educational.  It did not have a windows sticker on it with the key, so I looked for it in the registry.  It has one that says back up key XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-HMHY2.  I ran the slmgr  and it indicates XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-46Y6M is the key.

On the "about" page it shows Product ID XXXXX-XXXXX-00000-AA373, but when I ran it through the command prompt it shows:

Device ID XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXX1D87FE2

Product ID XXXXX-XXXXX-00000-AA464

64 Bit

Version 1909

Installed 11/1/2019

OS Build 18363.1256

I tried putting in the 46Y6M and got the following error:

Error:0xC004F069 on a computer running Microsoft Windows non-core edition, run 'slui.exe OxC004F069' to display the error text.

The Software licensing service reported that the SKU is not found 

The HMHY2 indicates it is educational and needs activating from the system administrator.  I am not certain where this one came from, but I cannot get the device activated now.  I had my mom do a reset and not it is back to "activate this device" and still will not complete activation.

Answer 1

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

We understand your concern as the PC that is used by your mother has changed from Windows 10 home to Windows 10 S after BIOS update and now it is not upgrading, because Windows 10 S is not activated, and the operating system became a non-core edition.

In order to change the Windows 10 from non-core to core edition, we would suggest you to perform these steps and later sign in with the same Microsoft account that you used before the BIOS update.

Put the PC in software clean boot, refer the article How to perform a clean boot in Windows. A ‘clean boot’ starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs.

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Note:After you finish troubleshooting, follow the sectionReset the computer to start normally after clean boot troubleshooting to reset the computer to start normally.

Once the above steps performed, then we would recommend you to download Windows 10 2004 version installation media (ISO) using the media creation tool on the desktop of the PC and then refer this article by PaulSey to run an in-place upgrade/repair.

Note: Please backup your important data that are saved in C drive to any other local drive or external drive before performing In-place upgrade.

Let us know the results. If the issue persists, we will certainly assist you further.

Aditya Roy

Microsoft Community – Moderator