10.1 Check Windows 10 is Activated

Windows 10 has been made available as a Free upgrade for users' of Windows 7, 8 & 8.1 provided that those users have a valid Windows product key and license. This upgrade is available for 12 months after the release of Windows 10 on the 29 July 2015.

As this is a free upgrade, Microsoft have not provided product key numbers to users' who have upgraded from Windows 7, 8 & 8.1. Instead Microsoft rely upon information gained from a users' machine to activate that copy of Windows 10.

The upshot of this new way of activating is that, should you re-install Windows 10 (and you can do a clean install rather than upgrade again from a qualifying Windows platform provided you have first upgraded to Windows 10 and that copy has been activated.) Windows 10 will send details of your machine to Microsoft. In return Microsoft will check their database to see if your machine has had its detail recorded in the Microsoft activation database. If it has then your copy of Windows will automatically be activated.

There is, as usual, a caveat to this process. You must install the copy of Windows on the same machine and, if you make major hardware changes to the machine, you will, of course, be required to contact the activation centre to obtain activation. This only applies to those machine that have been upgraded from Windows 7, 8 & 8.1. If you purchased a retail copy of Windows 10 then that will come with its own product key which you would insert upon installing the operating system onto your computer.

As the activation process is automatic you should check as soon as you have upgraded that your copy has been activated. You cannot do a clean install on the same computer unless it has previously been upgraded to Windows 10 and has subsequently been activate.

To check that your copy of Windows 10 has been activated, proceed as follows:

Click on the Start Button.
From the Start Menu, select Settings.

Fig: 10.1.1

Fig: 10.1.1 Click settings on the Start Menu

When the Settings Window opens, click on the Update and Security option.

Fig: 10.1.2

Fig: 10.1.2 Click the Update & security option

In the Updates & security settings window, click on the Activation option in the left hand pane.

Fig: 10.1.3

Fig: 10.1.3 To check for updates, click the Check for Updates button

In the Activation window you should see next to the Activation legend: Windows is activated.

Fig: 10.1.4

Fig: 10.1.4 You should see the legend Windows is Activated next to the Activation tag

If the screen tells you that Windows is not Activated and you know that you have a genuine copy then wait a little while and then try the above procedure again. It maybe that the activation server is busy at the time you first checked for activation.
If you do not own a legitimate version of Windows and you get the 'Windows is not activated' message you will need to buy a product key via the Windows Store option.