Unable to activate Windows

dhash

New member
I'm having trouble activating Windows 10 on a J50C-4. This is my second J50C-4, and I had perfectly smooth sailing with my first one (similar build w/RAM and M.2 upgrade), so this was a surprise. I ordered the computer on Amazon on March 18, and it was delivered March 20; shipped and sold by "MINIX Technology Limited".

These are the steps I took upon receiving the computer:

1. Started computer for first time (there was no startup beep, unexpected), checked BIOS version, shut down
2. Immediately updated BIOS to v0.15 per https://theminixforum.com/index.php?threads/neo-j50c-4-bios-verison-0-15.2221/
3. Booted into BIOS, verified project version, disabled eMMC, shut down
4. Installed additional 4 GB RAM module (CT4G4SFS824A), installed WD Blue 500 GB SATA M.2 drive (WDS500G2B0B)
5. Booted into BIOS, verified RAM, noted no SSD seen in boot options. This matched my experience with my first unit, but the SSD was identified during imaging and there was no issue. Shut down.
6. Prepped Windows 10 Pro image on a 32 GB NTFS USB drive per https://theminixforum.com/index.php...ows-10-pro-os-installation-instructions.2159/
7. Booted from USB drive and let the imaging utility run; it found the 500 GB SSD and successfully installed Windows
8. When it finished, executed CleanupTest on desktop and let the system reboot into Windows first time setup
9. Left network off for initial Windows setup, then activated network once on desktop
10. Went into Windows Activation settings and saw Windows was not activated, reporting error code 0xc004f213 (no product key found on device)
11. Tried built-in troubleshooter, no change ("We weren't able to activate Windows on this device")
12. Repeated steps 7-9 and re-imaged the computer, but this time had network active during initial Windows setup
13. No change to activation status, same error code, and Windows troubleshooter made no difference.
14. Tried running https://neosmart.net/OemKey/, which was not able to find a product key (unable to open MSDM table)
15. Tried running https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html, which did find a product key for Windows 10 Pro. The key was associated with a product ID with "OEM" in it (I can dig this back up if it makes a difference)
16. Used "Change product key" and entered the key found by NirSoft, but Windows rejected it, saying it could not be used for this device.

I've poked around these forums a bit and can't think of anything else I can do to validate the legitimate copy of Windows on this device. Is it possible that updating BIOS before installing Windows for the first time somehow mangled the OEM key?

Any help would be appreciated - thanks!
 
Activation is done via the eMMC, you need to login there before changing to the SSD. Re-activate the eMMC and disable the SSD, when you have activation confirmation on the eMMC then you can disable and re-enable the SSD.
 
Thanks! That did the trick. Disabled SATA, enabled eMMC, booted, went through Windows prompts with network activation, then restarted and reverted the drive configuration. I'm now showing activated Windows with the SSD.

I think I just didn't remember having to fully activate Windows on the eMMC drive on my first PC, but it was several months ago so I might have misremembered.

Thanks again for the quick fix.
 
I missed this step with my J50 but it still activated without ever running the system with the eMMC.

Although, I have the MINIX SSD with Win 10 pre-installed but that shouldn't make any difference at all as the configuration is still the same as a separately sourced SSD.

Most odd!! I haven't updated my BIOS, however!!
 
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