I recently enabled TPM on my computers, and shortly afterward, Windows deactivated itself across all systems. We had to perform a BIOS update on our Asus motherboards due to a critical security issue, and now it seems that Windows is no longer recognizing the activation on these specific PCs. We're still logged into the Microsoft account that initially activated Windows, but it's showing the 'activation required' watermark, which is causing issues for my employees who rely on CRMs.
I'm trying to figure out why the computers would lose their activation keys—could the BIOS update have triggered this? I'm looking for any solutions besides the slmgr /rearm command since it's not ideal for us. Additionally, wouldn't Microsoft keep the activation keys stored online? I wish we could retrieve these easily given that we still have access to our Microsoft accounts, but it seems we can't locate the product keys for these machines. Any workaround or insight on this situation would be greatly appreciated!
1 Answer
It sounds like the BIOS update might have messed with your system's hardware profile. Windows ties activation to specific hardware IDs, and changing the BIOS could trigger its protection mechanisms.
Try going to Settings > Activation and click on 'Troubleshoot,' then select the option for recently changed hardware. This may help reset the activation.
Thanks for the tip! I didn’t realize that might be the case. I’ll give that a shot and hopefully that resolves the issue. Appreciate the help!