Windows 11 Activation Issue

Question

I have two identical Microsoft Surface Pro 3 devices. They both came to me with Microsoft Windows 10 Pro installed and activated.

Upon receipt, I upgraded them both to Windows 11 Pro, and both showed as activated.

In preparation for their ongoing use, I undertook a clean installation of Windows 11 on both devices. However, one of the two devices is now refusing to activate.

I have been through every part of the troubleshooting process multiple times. I have reverted to Windows 10 to see if that was the issue, but now Windows 10 refuses to activate as well. A telephone support staff member used QuickSupport in an attempt to fix it last night - appearing to remove the key, have me reinstall Windows 11 from scratch, then readd the key - however, this process has not worked.

I have been trying to get hold of telephone support again today for twelve hours, with multiple call attempts - some of which are failing while on hold, others are failing once connected.

The closest I have come to the next step in this process is a telephone support staff member telling me that I had exhausted my activation allowances. I cannot understand why a Microsoft device would even have an allowance for activations - people reinstall Windows all the time to clean up issues. I do it habitually on all my devices around once every six months, and I've never been aware that this was even a possibility.

Prior to the telephone call dropping, they had stated that because this device had been upgraded from 8.1 to 10 to 11, they could no longer fix this issue. However, in other search results, people have stated that Microsoft have issued replacement keys in such circumstances.

The entire purpose of purchasing these two devices to begin with was because they were simple, all-in-one devices with Microsoft Windows licenses attached to them.

So far, this mess has wasted a full day, and I'm turning to this because every attempt at getting through to telephone support is dropping the telephone call, so I'm at a loss of what to do next, and I really need to get this sorted out.

I don't think it's reasonable to sell a device with the impression that it will always have a Microsoft Windows key attached to it, only for this to occur. I don't want to purchase a new license. I want the one that is attached to my device to work - the same as the second identical device, that has been dealt with in exactly the same way is working.

Answer 1

Adam,

The Digital licenses for Windows 10 (and 11) also are linked to a Microsoft Account during activation. Since it sounds like you purchased these already activated, I'm wondering if they were linked to someone else's Microsoft Account. They may have removed one of the devices, but not both from their account. Sadly, this is only something Microsoft Support can assist with and I know that you have not had much luck.

Answer 2

This is somewhat confusing, because Surface PRO 3 was never eligible for a Windows 11 official upgrade according to Microsoft's "rules". https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/which-surface-devices-can-be-upgraded-to-windows-11-76c3c125-82e0-4d1e-9550-12ed09f9058e

What you should try is the official Surface Recovery image for Windows 10. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface-recovery-image - this should activate.