Dell laptop - Product id not available

Really struggling with this - hope someone can help.

A friend's Dell was not accepting updates - I think he had done a 'refresh' as he had not lost any files.

I've now done a full Windows 8 reset / reinstall from within Windows thinking it will sort it. However it still has the same issue. Within System - Windows activation - Product ID: not available

Within PC Setting - Activation - Activation error description not found.

Then because of this the software protection service will not start. Updates won't install etc.

The showkey script I found on this forum says 'OEM Key: Key not found'

There is no key on the machine - I presume it should be found by Windows from the bios but this doesn't see to be happening.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Diagnostic Report
-----------------------------------------
Windows Validation Data-->
ToolVersion: 6.2.9200.16384
LicensingStatus: Unlicenced
LicensingStatusReason: 0xC004F014
LocalGenuineState: The license is valid
LocalGenuineResultP: 0
LastOnlineGenuineResult:
GraceTimeMinutes: 0
TotalGraceDays: 0
ValidityExpiration:
ActivePartialProductKey: 4RDHT
ActiveProductKeyPid2: 00179-60470-03504-AAOEM
OSVersion: 6.2.9200.2.00010300.0.0.101
ProductName: Windows 8
ProcessorArchitecture: x64
EditionId: Core
BuildLab: 9200.win8_gdr.120926-1855
TimeZone: GMT Standard Time(GMT+01:00)
ActiveSkuId:
ActiveSkuDescription:
ProductUniquenessGroups:
ActiveProductKeyPKeyId:
ActiveProductKeyPidEx: 05426-01796-047-003504-02-1033-9200.0000-0142013
ActiveProductKeyChannel: OEMM
ActiveVolumeCustomerPid:
OfflineInstallationId:
DomainJoined: false
ComputerSid: S-1-5-21-3944701357-1908872862-1273979803
ProductLCID: 1033
UserLCID: 2057
SystemLCID: 1033
CodeSigning: SIGNED_INFO_PRS_SIGNED
ServiceAvailable: false
OemMarkerVersion: 0x00020001
OemId: DELL
OemTableId: CL09
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Model: Inspiron 3521
InstallDate: 20140828004101.000000+060
Health Check Data-->
Result: PASS
TamperedItems:
Genuine Authorization Data-->
ServerProps: 0xc0000022
　

Activation Diagnostic Tool for Windows 8.x
Created by Superfly for EightForums

I don't know if doing whatever you did corrupted the Dell PC Restore (factory restore) or not, but Dell has a recovery partition accessed by F8 at Power On. This will allow restoring the PC to the original factory condition, and no discs are needed. You shouldn't need any Product Key either.

How to Easily Restore a Dell PC to Factory Settings | Tech Channel - RadioShack

F8 isn't an option within Windows 8 - is it?

However the Dell System Recovery is there - so that would seem to be the next step - good suggestion!

Your product key seems fine - software licencing just can't find it..

Try the following in command prompt as admin

slmgr.vbs /ato

(note the space)

Superfly said:

Your product key seems fine - software licencing just can't find it..

Try the following in command prompt as admin

slmgr.vbs /ato

(note the space)

Click to expand...

Error 0x80070426 - Windows activation - the service has not been started.

Select Run type services.msc

Scroll to Software Protection

See if you can start the service.

Software Protection service?

Windows could not start ... Error 5: Access is denied.

That's what I feared...

The licencing files/permissions got corrupted - I haven't found a fail-safe method to fix this other than from a restore point prior.
As fireberd suggested the best would be a clean install ... some have reported success with a start-up repair but I can't vouch for that.

You could try sfc /scannow and

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

I ran sfc earlier but it found no issues.

I think I'll go for the Dell recovery. My earlier reinstall was from within Windows ... something must be wrong with this install.

I'll let you know how it goes. Many thanks for the assistance.

No problem.. I'd like to get a proper fix for this for future reference as well...

BTW came across this post which deletes the service and recreates it from a fresh xml file.

Sorry, I kicked off the recovery.

Anyway ... the 'Windows' full reinstall took most of today. The Dell recovery took about 30mins!

Now working and activated.

A very frustrating evening - thanks again for the assistance.

jb72 said:

Sorry, I kicked off the recovery.

Anyway ... the 'Windows' full reinstall took most of today. The Dell recovery took about 30mins!

Now working and activated.

A very frustrating evening - thanks again for the assistance.

Click to expand...

Thanx for reporting back - glad it's sorted.

I will try to replicate that error in a VM and see if I can come up with an easier/better solution.

PS: This confirms my previous tests that a restore from within Windows won't work as the licencing files are protected and thus will not be overwritten.

Hmmm don't go away ... it's now reverting all the updates it downloaded and installed overnight (100+)! It could take hours.

I think this was the original issue ... perhaps some update is messing it up.

My suggestion would be to download 8.1 - I can send you a key to download it - Once installed you then get your key with Showkey_v1.3 and activate it... if you want.

Thanks for the offer. I selected a few and installed them, it then restarted and installed the rest successfully!

Now downloading the 8.1 update from the store.