FIX: Can’t change Windows 10 product key

Windows 10 has been released for some time, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some minor issues from time to time. Speaking of issues, users are reporting that they are unable to change the Windows 10 product key, so let’s see if we can fix this in some way.

According to users, it seems that when they try to change the product key, the Settings app crashes and they cannot change their Windows 10 product key. This sounds like an unusual problem, but luckily for you, there are few solutions that you can try. .

What to do if you can’t change your Windows 10 product key

Table of Contents:

1. Fix: Can’t change Windows 10 product key

Solution 1 – Change UAC settings

Apparently, there is a bug in the User Account Control settings that prevents changing the Windows 10 product key, but you can try to fix it by following these steps:

1. Open Settings and search for UAC. In the list of results, select User Account Control.
2. Change the User Account Control setting to Always notify
3. Try changing the product key again. You should get the UAC prompt and you should be able to change your product key now.
4. Once you’re done, you can navigate to the User Account Control settings and change it from Always notify to the one you were using before.

Solution 2 – Reinstall Windows 10 upgrade

Some users claim that the only way to change the Windows 10 product key if you have this problem is to go back to the previous version of Windows that you activated and perform the update again.

This may not be the best solution, but even Microsoft suggests it, so if you’re having trouble changing your product key, you may want to give this a try.

Solution 3 – Restart the Windows Explorer process

The next thing we are going to try is to restart the Windows Explorer process. Apparently this can affect your product key settings.

This is how you do it:

5. Right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager.
6. Navigate to the Processestab . Find Windows Explorer, right-click and choose Restart& lt; br / & gt;
7. Click Fileand select New Task .
8. Type exeand press Enter or click OK. Your Windows user interface will be displayed once more.

Now you only need to run a single command from the Command Prompt to finish the process:

9. Go to Search, type cmd and open Command Promptas Administrator.
10. At the Command Prompttype the following command and press Enter: slmgr / upk
11. Restart your computer.

Solution 4 – Use a digital license

If you cannot manually insert the license key, use the one associated with your Microsoft account. This is what you have to do:

12. Go to the Settingsapp .
13. Open Update & amp; Security& gt; Activation.
14. Under Add a Microsoft account, click Add an account…
15. Enter your email and password and log in.
16. Now your copy of Windows 10 should be activated.

Solution 5 – Use slui.exe

Using slui.exe is one of the most common alternative ways to activate Windows 10. Here’s how to run this command:

17. Go to Search, type exe 3and press Enter.
18. Enter the product key and see if you can activate Windows now.

If that doesn’t work, you can try another slui.exe command:

19. Go to Search, type exe 4and press Enter.
20. An activation request to take over your PC – here you have to select your country and click Next.
21. Once you’ve selected your country, just call one of the numbers on the list and follow the instructions from Microsoft support.

Solution 6 – Check your internet connection

If your Internet connection is not stable, you will not be able to activate Windows 10. Therefore, if none of the previous solutions solved the problem, make sure you are properly connected to the Internet.

Solution 7 – Reset your license status

If there have been any problems during the activation process, you can always override the license status. If you don’t know how to do it, follow these instructions:

22. Go to Search, type command line, and open command prompt as Administrator.
23. Enter the following command and hit Enterto run it: vbs -rearm

Solution 8 – Force activation

And finally, if none of the above solutions managed to solve the activation problem, you can always force activation. This is what you have to do:

24. Go to Search, type cmd and open Command Promptas Administrator.
25. On the command line, type the following command and press Enter:
    • • VBS -REARM

26. Now, restart your computer, insert your activation key (Settings> Update & Security> Activation) and open Command Prompt (Admin) again.
27. On the command line, type the following command and press Enter:
    • • VBS -ATO

28. Restart your PC again. That should solve your problem.

However, if you cannot insert the license key in the standard way, you can use the Command Prompt to force the process further:

29. Open command prompt (Admin).
30. Type the following command on the command line and press Enter: SLMGR.VBS -IPK XXXX-XXXXXX-XXXX-XXXXXX (instead of XXXX-XXXXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXinsert your license key)
31. Restart your PC and check if the procedure has solved your problems.

Not being able to change your Windows 10 product key can be a big problem, but as you can see, there are few solutions you can try. We hope these solutions have been helpful to you and that you have managed to change your Windows 10 product key.