I Got My Windows 10 BootCamp Install Activated in Parallels 16

I was having trouble getting my Windows 10 Pro to activate in Parallels like so many other folks around this forum and around the web. I didn't find any other solution other than to go ahead and purchase another license while in Parallels to get rid of the non authentic Windows message and hardware changes etc.

So I paid the $199. 1 week later I saw how dumb I was to do that in the spur of the moment so I called Microsoft (by now this was probably the 7th or 8th time, this time with a billing issue though) and they refunded the additional license. As soon as that happened a reboot confirmed the activation while running Parallels was gone again.

I was on the phone with two more reps, one which seemed to have disconnected on me on purpose but that's another story and one that said I will need to reset the computer. Now I wasn't about to do that running the virtual machine so I rebooted into the Windows partition and decided to just wipe the whole thing and start fresh. Mind you it was already a pretty fresh install and I had things setup nicely but I said what the heck and decided to go through with it. I was determined to get this fixed.

I wiped everything instead of keeping my files. (both options may have different effects?) While it was doing it's thing I walked away and it did a restart and booted into Big Sur. I restarted and held down option to have it boot into Windows. It continued on doing its thing.

Once I got to the setup screen I chose my settings but I did select that I'm running this at home vs work/corporate (it may or may not make a difference, I say this because my previous install was on work/corporate and it was showing my Microsoft 365 account, Azure, as the administrator for some reason and not the account used for the Digital license - the Microsoft rep is the one that said we have to reset the PC and etc. so he gave me the idea. I took the case number down and figured I try to go at it on my own) So there is that. Just putting it out there.

After I was up and running and at the Windows desktop I looked at the activation screen and was Windows was indeed activated. I decided to boot into Big Sur and see if I can see the same result within Parallels. No go. BUT! This time I had an option that I didn't have on my previous install.

When you click on Troubleshoot in the activation area I had "I changed hardware recently on this device" which again I didn't have earlier and was frustrated when I found https://www.windowscentral.com/how-re-activate-windows-10-after-hardware-change and saw it in the screenshot.

I think this may be due to Windows not installing updates on the reset, and if I'm not mistaken when I was setting it up with BootCamp originally (and keep in mind it was the work/corporate choice when asked if I was a home or work user) it did download updates automatically. So that leads me to believe it was running an older build and I was able to get this option in the Troubleshooting popup.

When I ran it the first time it didn't work, it said to check back in a few minutes. I can't remember if I rebooted or not (it's kind of late) but eventually I tried again and it showed me something like is this the computer you want to activate windows on a selection box to select the computer name and it worked! I was ecstatic! I would have been out $199 and hours down the drain if it weren't for... well I don't know for what but something in me just said it can't be this way. So I wanted to share.

After that I did all my tweaks, hardening, updates, installed AdGuard had a tall glass of Promise Land milk (the best) and went on with my evening.

 

Thanks for sharing the experience buddy, it'll save many from this frustration