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I decided to upgrade my Asus laptop running Windows 7 Professional to Windows 10. The upgrade app started properly, so I let it do all the pre-setup stuff, then started the upgrade. However, the power strip to which the laptop was connected somehow got shut off, so the computer ran out of power about 5% of the way through upgrading. When I turned back on the power strip, the computer reverted properly back to Windows 7.
After the computer finished restarting, I started over the process of installing Windows 10. However, after showing me the license agreement, the app gave me this message:
Windows isn't activated on this PC. Use a product key to activate it before upgrading to Windows 10.
(If you don't have a product key, click on Support below.)
I pressed "Support", and was brought to this page, which has the following text under "Why do I need to activate Windows before I upgrade?":
If you have a product key for your current version of Windows, but it doesn't work when you try to use it, go to the product activation article for more help.
I clicked that link and followed the instructions in the Windows 7 section. But when I pressed "Activate Windows now", I received this message and the following options:
The Windows 7 Professional product key you typed is invalid for activation
- Buy a new product key online
- Type a different product key
- Contact ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to help resolve this problem
I noticed that instead of "Activate Windows now", this text actually reads "3 days until automatic activation. Activate Windows now". I should also point out that I created a Restore Point before I originally started the Windows 10 upgrade process.
What should I try to do in this case? Should I rollback to the Restore Point (didn't fix anything), wait the three days until it's automatically activated (see below), or do something else entirely? Thanks in advance.
EDIT: The automatic activation timer has gone off, but the only thing that changed is that text, which now reads:
27 days to activate. Activate Windows now
You can try a restore point, but you may have to Use the Asus recovery media to reinstall W7, then try upgrade again. – Moab – 2015-10-03T14:28:29.707
@Moab Thanks for the tip. I tried the restore point, but it didn't seem to do much. The automatic activation timer is now down to 1 day, so I'll see what happens tomorrow and update this post as necessary. – ETHproductions – 2015-10-05T02:07:36.063
Okay, so the automatic activation timer has gone off, but it wasn't re-activated. I guess I'll take the laptop to where I bought it, as they are prepared to install whichever version of Windows I prefer. – ETHproductions – 2015-10-05T21:34:30.030