Cannot activate Windows RT 8.1 after doing a factory reset

[allanshute]

Greetings from China...

I have a Dell XPS 10 which runs Windows RT. Everything works perfect until I upgrade to Windows 8.1 RT and make a restore to factory default.
I upgraded from Windows Store and it runs well. Things went bad after I did a factory reset. I found similar problems reported by Surface RT users as well.
windows rt preview 8.1 not activated - Microsoft Community

The system keeps asking me to activate Windows but I don't have any product key to activate. Any idea for this?

And I'm thinking of using a USB recovery drive to recover my XPS10 to Windows RT 8. And I downloaded all files from this post but I don't have the password to unrar... http://forums.windowscentral.com/surface-windows-rt/232959-2.htm
If anyone knows (or mase123987 you see this thread) the password for that RAR file please PM me. Thank you very much.....

 

[kwajr]

How did you upgrade to 8.1,if you didn't do it by the ms way then screw you

Sent from my RM-893 Lumia 925

 

[allanshute]

I did the upgrade via Windows Store... everything works fine until I reset the device..

 

[kwajr]

try to reset again

 

[allanshute]

I tried reset/refresh for many times but it is still not working... Windows RT is not activated. And I'm trying to recover from USB but it gives me 0x0000005C error...

try to reset again

 

[DuncanF62]

How did you upgrade to 8.1,if you didn't do it by the ms way then screw you

What are you? 14, 15? Grow up FFS.

 

[DuncanF62]

The system keeps asking me to activate Windows but I don't have any product key to activate.

Have you tried the key that MS distribute with the ISO version of the 8.1 update? No idea if it will work, but worth a punt: NTTX3-RV7VB-T7X7F-WQYYY-9Y92F

 

[allanshute]

Thanks but this key is for 8.1 Preview not for RT 8.1 Preview. I cannot use this key to activate

Have you tried the key that MS distribute with the ISO version of the 8.1 update? No idea if it will work, but worth a punt: NTTX3-RV7VB-T7X7F-WQYYY-9Y92F

 

[Storl]

You could try reading your product key back out of the ACPI MSDM table.

Jailbreak your Surface RT [Release] RT Jailbreak Tool - xda-developers and try running this tool, i just compiled it for ARM. The source code can be found here if you rather compile it yourself, no idea if it works..

 

[kwajr]

I tried reset/refresh for many times but it is still not working... Windows RT is not activated. And I'm trying to recover from USB but it gives me 0x0000005C error...

well on an rt tablet its already activated we don't even get a key

 

[foxbat121]

There was a recent 8.1 update pushed out by MS to resolve a product activation issue. Try update your RT first.

 

[Ahmed Safarini]

Can't update , every time I try to update it fails .
Please help because I cannot contact Microsoft since my warranty expired .

 

[azcruz]

How can your warranty expire that fast? Mine is up to October 2015 and I bought I last October 2012.

Sent from my Windows Phone 8S by HTC using Tapatalk

 

[SeeVuPlay]

I had this same problem on my surface RT. I called Tech support and they emailed me a file. I still have that email and zip file with instructions. I can email it to you if you want, but Im not sure if it'll work for your case. You can read the email and decide for yourself. Here is what the email said:

Attached is the file to fix the activation issue you are having with the Windows RT 8.1 Preview.

1. <!--[endif]-->Please save the attached ZIP file (RTactivation.ZIP) to your Surface.
2. <!--[endif]-->Browse to the location of where the ZIP file is saved (the Downloads folder by default).
3. <!--[endif]-->Right click (or tap and hold) on the ZIP file and select Extract. By default this will create a new folder with the same name as zipped file.
4. <!--[endif]-->Inside the new folder is a file named RTactivation.cmd - it will have what looks like a gear as its icon. Right click (or tap and hold) on the file and select Run as Administrator.

You will see your Surface switch to the Desktop and a black command window open up. The script will automatically run a series of commands, so you will see text appear in the window, a pause, then more text, then a pause, etc. Just let the script run until the script completes and the black command window closes automatically.

After the script completes, restart your Surface and when Surface connects to the internet, activation should be fixed.

 

[Ahmed Safarini]

thank u yes It will be great if u send it to me at least I could try : eng.ahmed.safarini@gmail.com , again thanks for ur help .

 

[Ahmed Safarini]

I don't know I just tried to use it but it said that its expired since Mar 2013 .

 

[SeeVuPlay]

Ahmed, i just tried to send you an email and it bounced back...do you have a different email?

 

[symbarowski]

I'm having the same problems with my xps 10, thank goodness for you guys!

Would it be possible to get a copy of the activation.cmd as well , my email is symbarowski@outlook.com ?

Thanks,

Fred

 

[Jarx]

I have the same problem here, please send it also to me: jar-i@live.fi

 

[warex3d]

I have the same problem here, please send it also to me: warex3d@hotmail.com