# Had to restore and now windows wont activate



## joshace (Sep 20, 2005)

I have a Dell All in one with windows 8 factory installed. I could not boot to windows yesterday and doing restore to previous dates did not resolve the problem. I was able to run the dell back up and recovery app which did a current back up and then reloaded windows and the computer to factory conditions and then installed my personal files back onto it. Now I get a message saying windows cannot be activated and I am not sure what to do. 

I get Error Code: 0x8004F80B

Error description: Unable to find a detailed error description.

Unknown facility code of :0x04 (04L)

Facility error: 0xF80B (63499L)


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## kanaitpro (Feb 13, 2013)

did you try entering the product key on the sticker on the back of the computer? since it is windows 8, it may not have a key. i know hp has the key embedded into themotherboard, so if it needs activated, it has to have a tattoo utility ran on it. you may try typing activate from the metro screen and try activating by phone. i have done this on windows 7 machines, but not 8. if that doesn't work, you may try calling dell, but if they want you to pay for it, post back here first, either myself or someone else may be able to help.


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## davehc (Oct 4, 2006)

I dont think you will find a sticker on that machine. It is embedded in the motherboard/BIOS. But if you did a factory restore, it normally automatically picks up the activation and there is no user input required.
But, assuming your message is transcribed accurately, you are saying" it cannot be activated" ?
How old is the machine? Normally, Dell deliver their larger and more expensive machines, with the latest OS. In this case, I would have thought it would be Windows 8.1, not Windows 8.

Some detail on 
*"I could not boot to windows yesterday and doing restore to previous dates did not resolve the problem. I was able to run the dell back up and recovery app which did a current back up and then reloaded windows and the computer to factory conditions", might help to diagnose the problem.*

How did you do that?
Dell backup and recovery, does not restore the machine to factory condition. If you have not disturbed any of the Prebuilt Dell partitions, this is the procedure (as outlined by Dell -it works for me.

* Turn on the computer.

2 As the computer starts, press <F8> on the keyboard until the Advanced Boot Options menu appears on the screen.

Note: 
You must press <F8> before the Windows logo appears on the screen. If you press <F8> after the Windows logo appears on the screen, the Advanced Boot Options menu will not appear on the screen. If you do not see the Advanced Boot Options menu, restart the computer, and then repeat this step until you see the menu on the screen. 

3 Press the <Down Arrow> on the keyboard to select Repair Your Computer on the Advanced Boot Options menu, and then press <Enter>.

4 Specify the language settings that you want, and then click Next.

5 Log in as a user who has administrative credentials, and then click OK.

6 Click Dell Factory Image Restore.

7 In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click Next.

8 Click to select the Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition check box.

9 Click Next. 
The computer is restored to the default factory configuration.

10 When the restore operation is completed, click Finish to restart the computer.

The software is now installed as it was when the computer was first received. At this point, you will be asked which OS you wish to install..etc.*.

FWIW. I have access to several such, of ranging ages. They are all with 8.1
But try these.
1. Type Winver in a run box, and ascertain which version is, in fact, installed.
2. Download a program, such as belarq (http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) and , after you have runn it, look at the bottom of the table it shows, and you will see the OEM key.
You can try and see if this will work, but, with the message you have received, there may be another problem.
From where did you purchase the computer? Dell do not, normally, work through retail stores, so I feel there is an outside possibility that, assuming there was one, the original owner has registered the product as his own , with Dell.

One other thought. As it should have been already activated, I assume you tried to enter a key. What key?


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

1. Open a cmd prompt with admin rights
The cmd window heading must be
Administrator Command Prompt and not just Command Prompt
copy and paste this into the cmd prompt window and run it, spacing is vital so do you should copy and paste not try and type it

* 
Licensingdiag.exe -report %userprofile%\desktop\report.txt -log %userprofile%\desktop\repfiles.cab*

two files will appear on the desktop one is the named *report* - open that and copy and paste to your reply please

The other *repfiles* with a computer icon is irrelevant to this and is not required.
Do not try and open those files.

You may then simply delete the two files placed on the desktop

2. As my colleague has said - it should have activated automatically, when the install process was complete from the recovery partition on the hard drive, and the computer was connected to the internet, as the product key or licence key as it is better called on 8 is embedded in the firmware and when the install is recognised as the OS tied to the key activation should be automatic

Have any hardware changes been made to the computer since it was bought.
Another possibility is this


> I was able to run the dell back up and recovery app which did a current back up and then reloaded windows and the computer to factory conditions and then installed my personal files back onto it.


as my colleague says could you explain the procedure you followed against that outlined


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