Is it possible to activate Windows 11 if I did not activate Windows 10 prior to the installation of Windows 11?

Question

Sorry if the question is hard to understand, but my brother recently downloaded Windows 11 without activating Windows 10. Now that he has an un-activated Windows 11, his system is telling him that he can not activate Windows 11 because Windows 10 was not activated. We purchased the activation key from Micro Center, and are hesitant to purchase another from the windows store. Also, many friends of ours are telling us the only way to fix the problem is to re-install Windows 10, meaning deletion of all of his current data. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Answer 1

For the Windows 11 upgrade work, you need to have a Windows 10 and it should be activated and then you could upgrade it to Windows 11 for free. You Windows 10 license won't work on Windows 11 unless it has been activated.
The solution is what you just mentioned, and it is to reinstall Windows 10 and activate it and then upgrade from the Windows 10 to the Windows 11 and activation will work.

Answer 2

You can downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10 within 10 days using this community guide:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/downgrade-from-windows-11-to-windows-10/84a2416d-ccfb-4d87-9eee-e1056591e91f

Once you're at Windows 10 activate it and upgrade back to Windows 11.

Hope this helps!