The most recent problem had to do with the Windows 10 license. The desktop suddenly started to report the license was about to expire. Interestingly, this is the second time this message showed up on this computer. The first time was several years ago, not long after I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 taking advantage of the free upgrade Microsoft offered when it was first released. I won’t go into detail right now about the disaster I created soon after upgrading that totally crashed the operating system, but I had to have the shop do a complete reinstall because the reset option did not work for me. A few months later, the license message started to appear so I ended up having to take it in again to get that fixed. I do not know what they did to fix it, but presume they had communication with the Microsoft license folks to get it corrected.
Just a few weeks ago now, when the message appeared again, I called the shop and took it in again. The odd part about it this time was I noticed that it now showed I had Windows 10 Pro when I only had the Home version before. It also said the Pro was installed in early May and I know I did not do that. The guys at the shop were baffled by how that could happen also. After they did what they could to find the original license or product key unsuccessfully, they told me it was actually the Enterprise Pro version. How that got installed is a complete mystery to me. The only solution this time was to buy a completely new key, so I had them do that and activate it. Since then it is now functioning normally again.
What I have learned through this process is there is a difference between a product key and digital license. I asked the shop to give me the new key so I would have it if needed. They did so and they called it the Windows 10 Key. In the Windows 10 Settings it says the product was activated with a digital license. I am hoping never to have to use the key again, but given the strange happenings of late, I’m not betting on that.
Tech Muddler 