Windows 11 deactivated after 24h2 update

Question

Gidday

I updated my computer today to 24H2 and after it rebooted it requested me to activate my copy of Windows Home. I attempted to using the key that I have but it says that it can't.

I have inserted a screenshot below. If you need any further information please let me know.

cheers

col

he

Answer 1

So far, every machine we have gotten this update on at my firm has lost its licensing immediately after.

Many of these are new OEM Win 11 pro keys that came with the installation media when building the workstations.

It's a massive disaster.

Additionally, this update is somehow bypassing our group policies that defer updates for 6 months and is updating immediately.

Answer 2

I'm having similar issues. I support an organization with over 200 workstations and I'm seeing a similar issue with upgrades as well as fresh installs. In previous versions of Windows 11 installations, it would look for a digital license and automatically activate once loaded into the operating system. After regretfully downloading a fresh copy of Windows 11 24H2 to distribute in my organization, I'm getting several machines suddenly prompting for a product key, which was never the case with previous versions. This is expected if I was building a PC from scratch. A prompt for a product key then would be expected, and certainly nothing new. But this is NEW with 24H2 in that something has changed so that it either no longer checks for a digital license or only accepts brand new OEM 11 keys. I hope they fix this ASAP because this was not an issue with previous versions of 11.

Answer 3

Same here. Just updated my desktop to 24h2 and now it says that my windows 11 is not activated. The OS came pre-installed and I have the original CD and serial number.

Answer 4

Adding to the pile, my computer updated yesterday to the 24H2 on Windows 11, deactivated my windows 11 and now I have a horrid watermark that implies I stole. Which I find highly offensive and dismissive, I'm frankly quite peeved. I did everything right and now I'm getting punished with my computer essentially being neutered in regards to functionality ... because of a MS screw-up.
Not only is there the persistent watermark which overlays other programs and apps, effectively degrading the visual functionality of my screen, but certain base windows 11 functionality no longer works. I tried opening a word document (which I made on my old computer with office 2007) and it no longer runs the default word equivalent that comes with the OS.

The reasonable thing to do after this debacle would be to message all windows 11 users and offer them a temporary key (say 3 months or a 6 months).
As a legitimate customer, I shouldn't have to suffer as though I stole.

I have contacted my retailer who sold me the computer, (as I couldn't find the key on the case) so hopefully they will have it... but it's the weekend so they are off work and thus my weekend I will have a stupid watermark obscuring my screen.
This experience has me doubting the validity of leaving updates enabled, I gain nothing but pain... I don't need the bells and whistles just a computer that runs my games, and audio as well as giving me smooth access to the internet.

(I have tried all the above suggestions, I believe the update must literally wipe the Key Code from the computer thus the searches to pull it back give a null result)

Answer 5

In that case, right click your Start Button, then just type cmd and on the resulting list, right click Command Prompt and select 'Run as Administrator'.

Run this command and press Enter:

slmgr /rilc

When that completes, close Command Prompt.

Then open the activation page in the Settings app and select the Troubleshoot option, you may need to run that a couple of times, does that get Windows activated?