By now, a lot of eligible Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 users might have downloaded and installed Windows 10 on their PCs, while some are still waiting in line for Microsoft Corporation to show some mercy and send them the download invite. However, there are some cases where an upgrade to Windows 10 did not work smoothly and users had to resort to different ways of installing a fresh copy of Windows 10.
If you had to go through the ISO route to download and install Windows 10 and managed to successfully install it, then great job. However, for those unlucky users who ran into a couple of issues and strange error codes such as the 0xC004C003, then don't be alarmed because we have the fix
What is 0xC004C003?
The error message code 0xC004C003 refers to issues with Windows activation. According to Microsoft’s community forums, this usually happens when the product key that a user enters doesn’t work and therefore Windows could not be activated. The user can then try to contact Microsoft support or buy a new key from the company.
Why does it happen?
Users upgrading from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 receive a generic key which activates automatically once the user is online. If the user took the upgrade path first and then heads for a clean install of Windows 10, then that key is automatically re-used once the installation is complete. Users can skip the product key box which pops up during the clean Windows 10 installation. There is no point in entering the previous invalid key of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 during the installation process.
The 0xC004C003 pops up for users who have not taken the upgrade path from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10. Such users are tired of waiting for the upgrade to arrive and in order to skip the line, they download the ISO file and head for the fresh install. When prompted with the serial key box, users generally enter their Windows 7 or 8 key, which fails to pass the activation stage as users aren’t provided with a Windows 10 key when they download.
What to do and How do you make it work?
If you did not go through the upgrade route from Windows 7 or 8.1, then you are technically out of luck. The only way to get Windows 10 is to purchase a new key for the OS. If your’e faced with the 0xC004C003 error code and do not have the key, then purchasing is one option and the other is installing the old Windows 8 or 7 again, and wait for the upgrade to make your way. Microsoft is trying to provide upgrades as quickly as possible and with the numbers going up to 67 million devices already running Windows 10, yours might be up soon.
However, there are certain users who took the upgrade path from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 and it just fine, but when they decided to do a clean install, they were presented with 0xC004C003 error as well. For them, it is recommended to not enter their Windows 7 or 8 serial key as it will not work. Such users would not need to purchase the key.
Microsoft Support staff is claiming that there is an issue with the activation servers. There are too many requests and the server is overloaded. The best remedy provided is to wait a while and try the activation process again. The previous key is not blocked or invalid and is genuine, the server just happens to be busy at the moment.
A couple of users claim that the waiting part did indeed resolve the issue and Windows 10 activated automatically. Users can also utilize the command prompt to find out whether their Windows is activated or not.
Head to the Command Prompt – Make sure to run it as administrator – Type slmgr.vbs /ato – Hit enter and wait for the Windows Script Host to show you whether its activated or not. Some users claim that it doesn’t work the first time and after several attempts, they eventually got through and Windows 10 was activated. If you find another solution to this problem, please mention it in the comments below.
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