Hello, history I have an old HP laptop, still ok except wifi card has some trouble. I put back an old restore point but it didn't help. After some digging, I found it was due to manufacturer's driver (mediatek) that didn't provide any compatible driver for this win8.1 system (originally win 8) and with the time going and continuous patching of windows updates, they eventually end to work. One solution provided on HP forums was to downgrade bios, which I did but but that didn't fully solved the problem: card now see surrounding networks but can't connect. problem either system restore or bios downgrade blew up something in activation process: -in system properties, it says not activated -when laptop is inactive after a certain amount of time, an 'activate your windows' window appears, showing the last part of the product key to enter, that fits the legit product key but when I enter it it says 'this key didn't work, check or try another'. Trying 'online activation', it returns 'that didn't work, callin HP they say laptop is out of warranty for a while (2012!) -rest of the time, there is no particular limitation, I can use windows normally (except some customization options like profile's icon!,useless) any idea? It seems windows still holds the key but just can't verify it is correct and then just keeps working as usual. Reading [Guide to preserve Windows 8.x OEM Activation], I guess win8 is an annoying case, especially home. I've backed up windows\system32\spp folder but afterward, don't know if this part was unmodified. The laptop originally came with windows 8 home, then was upgraded to 8.1 home at that time. For what I've read patching the bios wont help for this OS and I didn't backed up the bios before. (HP flashing process was a windows .exe) but maybe it is not the cause, for what I understand there is no verification of the slic tables in this case. Tried sfc /scannow, tested some dism command to clean up (Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth), windows is up to date, no effect. It's now several months it is like this, not particularly annoying, just closing the window. I know it should be better to wipe everything and make a fresh install but in case there is a solution.. thank you
Windows 8.x uses a internal MSDM table instead of SLIC tables for activation, rare does a OEM bios upgrade or downgrade erase the MSDM, the key you are most likely seeing is the MSDM's key which should allow re-activation once connected to the internet providing the Edition installed matches the MSDM's Edition. I have had a few laptops drop activation for 8.x when not been online for months as every now and then the OS will send activation data to the m$ servers to re-fresh the ID's etc. to find your full key open a admin command prompt and copy/paste the below in then press enter: Code: wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey if there is a genuine MSDM available it should show you your full windows 8.x key. If you do a full reinstall then Windows setup of 8.x or even 10 will pick up this MSDM key and install the Edition it is for - in your case Core/Home then once connected to the internet automatically activate the OS.
thank you for your reply, wifi not working but laptop is (and has been) online via direct connection (ethernet) the command returns nothing good : Code: Noeud - (username) ERREUR : Description = yes, it should be more simple to reinstall a win8/10 pro +kms but if I can more simply keep this one (and legit!) + avoid to bkup and reinstall everything, I should prefer. Is there a way to put back this/a msdm key? I've no idea why there is nothing
The only real way i guess would be to have it re-inserted but the problem is now that there is no record of the MSDM key as it been either wiped or corrupted, I would of said to download the query tool from my link in my signature and take a look at the report , but as the key is not there it would say 'No MSDM Table Present' or it may say corrupted. I think the way without risking bricking the bios totally would be to use the kms way, this will be only for 45 days on core/home but if renewal is used then it will seem like it is permanent. With w10 you could install say professional instead and google 'massgravel' for a HWID which will give you a permanent activation for the edition you installed. It is up to you as by the looks of things the w8.x MSDM is longer operative and w8.x will be in perpetual click to continue and some features unavailable. I am not at home and typing on my phone while at work (on break) so i cant do much sorry.
ok, thank you thought kms couldn't be used with 8.1 home? edit: found this workaround from @Enthousiast : 8.1 core to pro by key but that didn't work error is still the same : Code d’erreur : 0xC004F012 - something like 'call did not succeed because value of the key can't be find' trying query tool in case...
These days the OS ignores the hosts file for certain things so it may not be a cause of the activation failure plus when clicking 'activate' or words to that effect it would fail instantly if there was a block being operative... OS online activations for 8.x/10 can be fussy at the best of times and even with a legit key/MSDM it can still throw up a failed attempt.
Code: #01 CS Product Name : Compaq CQ58 Notebook PC #09 SLIC Information : No Valid SLIC Table Present #02 CS Model Name : Compaq CQ58 Notebook PC #10 Product Key Used : ***************************** #03 CS Baseboard Product : 1885 #11 MSDM Key Present : ***************************** #04 CS Product Vendor : Hewlett-Packard #11 MSDM Information : Win 8 Core #05 CS Manufacturer : Hewlett-Packard #11 MSDM Brand Name : HP #06 Baseboard Vendor : Hewlett-Packard #12 BIOS/Boot Mode : UEFI/GPT [{W}/{W}] #07 Serial/Service Tag : 5CB3052PXW #13 Certificate : Not Present #08 BIOS or SLIC ID : HPQOEM - 1 #14 License Status : Tampered Files/Corrupted Token Store? License Status : Tampered Files/Corrupted Token Store? indicates some system files have either been corrupted or wrong versions , in-place upgrade may fix it... As the MSDM is actually present if you did a fresh install of win8.1 the setup would use the MSDM Core key to install Home/Core edition by default and should activate when online. If the key was complete - as you rightly removed your key from view as you posted the wrong report as there is one you see (private one) and the other safe to post one, also in your case a MSDM-Key file too (never post that either as it your MSDM key data!). Also if you install Win10 the setup would auto install Home/Core edition too, and activate when online too.
saw that afterwards doing fresh install will format the drive? not possible to repair? plus I have no win 8.1 core fr-FR iso/dvd (QT shows 600.19321.amd64fre.winblue_ltsb_escrow.190313-1806) I also thought about a factory restore but I will go back from 8.0 ... too bad simple Enthousiast's solution doesn't work, autorenewal is not a problem, laptop now is just a backup solution anyway thank you for the help
to do a in-place repair you would need a ISO/image of the same OS ie Win 8.1 in this case. A factory reset would take it right back to the image stored on the system ie 8.0 ok it would be a nitemare as you would then need to let it update to latest 8.1 then the millions of updates... If you wish to go the w10 route obtain a iso/image in your language and just run setup.exe from the extracted/mounted iso it would then upgrade your OS to win 10 core and use the MSDM key to activate with. That is a simplified explanation @Enthousiast can explain it in more detail if needed, also maybe find you the iso suitable.
ok, thank you! I can run windows update after, not a problem, I've also already downloading last days the update3-list with WHDownloader but confined and no dvd/rw or empty usb pendrive under the hat for now, maybe mount in a virtual drive? or shrink the drive and put in an other part, will see... could I just upgrade if pro version?
i believe it is possible to just 'mount' that iso and run setup within, the setup part will copy what it needs to a temp folder/location during the installation and clean it self up later. So you not need a usb/dvd , as long as you have about 10 GB free approx, set up will complain if not enough space. All being well it will fix any missing system files that caused the failure to activate.
If you wishing to upgrade to w10 process same, mount iso, run setup and it will ask if you want to keep files etc or a fresh install and away you go
Yes, just opening the ISO in explorer and running setup.exe will work. After the inplace / repair upgrade did it's job then you can try the upgrade to pro by key again.
nice! very nice! lol, you are really insisting on win10 but I'm not sure this laptop could support it. Plus I've discovered win10 few days ago for the first time, I already knew about telemetry but man it's over connected! and full of crap, every clic is recorded and analyzed, seeing it in action gave me 'chill down my spine' ...until I'm not more confident on how to install a 'cleaned' version, I prefer avoid it.. still a lot of readings to do here on MDL thank you both for taking the time!I
Majority go to w10 at some point, i spend a lot of time finding methods to reduce all the telemetry in the project i maintain but i leave the choices to the end user.
what kind of HP laptop do you have, noone.1? use the MSInfo32.exe tool from Win10 to determine the specific model of the HP laptop (it may be listed in the System model section)
OK! and automatically activated! took 3h hours but everything seems exactly the same, even used disk size @Enthousiast if I use your solution to convert core to pro, license won't be volume and hence kms_vl_all won't be able to activate it or, pro will be activated? I don't understand (and images in the other thread are in dutch ) this one is a compaq cq58