Why won't Windows 10 activate?

[Windows Central Question]

Windows 10 Will Not Activate

I upgraded from Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10 Pro using the ISO App - but I told it to upgrade the current OS from the application in 8.1. I did tell it to erase all files. Now, Windows 10 will not activate. It keeps saying "Windows can't activate. Try again later." Before I pressed the "Activate" button, it had an error "0xC004F061 - The Software Licensing Service reported that the license could not be found or was invalid." After I pressed Activate, it gives no error, only "Windows can't activate. Try again later." Are the activation servers overloaded or do I have to reinstall Windows 8.1 and upgrade again without removing any files?

 

[a5cent]

Re: Windows 10 Will Not Activate

You are trying to activate a W10 installation with a W8.1 license key. That won't work.

You can find more details about this here:

http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...0015-windows-10-upgrade-installation-faq.html