Windows Activation Gone Crazy

[TheeRadioDJ]

I've been recently having a fresh installation of Windows activate with a digital license when it connects to the internet. I buy Windows 10 Pro keys from those sites like urcdkey.com. Since the Windows 10 keys will activate Windows 11 as well, I don't see the point in paying more for a Windows 11 key. The keys I've purchased over the sites like that have always worked without issue, but recently I've had a fresh Windows install activate online, and then later it may randomly decide it isn't activated.

I did a fresh Windows X-Lite.com Windows 11 install today, and it activated fine with my Windows 10 key. I noticed several hours later that it's now reporting as not activated. I haven't changed any hardware on the machine since I installed Windows a less than a day ago. I'm starting to wonder if the heavily tweaked and customized builds coming from Windows X-Lite are the issue? I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, since you can carry on using Windows un-activated forever if that's your thing.

[Grogan]

I did a Windows 11 install in a virtual machine and found that if Windows is not activated, it won't let you into most of the settings. However, Windows WAS activated (and may still be if you check it again tomorrow... it could just be their server bullshit where one activation server hasn't sync'd with the other etc.)

I don't know what the Windows X-Lite would change, but unlikely anything to do with that.

P.S. They aren't fiddling with activation in any way:

Our Optimized Windows Builds are NOT Pre-Activated and don't include Toolkits,

because both can contain hidden code and malware, and our goal is to provide you

with the cleanest, safest, most trustworthy custom Windows builds possible.

[TheeRadioDJ]

Mike,

It seems like it was a server issue, because now Windows is activated again. I still haven't changed anything, lol.

[Grogan]

I figured as much, I've seen that happen as far back as Windows XP.