Save the date: Windows Office Hours - November 20, 2025
Save the date for our next monthly Windows Office Hours, on November 20 from 8:00-9:00a PT! We will have a broad group of product experts, servicing experts, and engineers representing Windows, Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager, Windows 365, Windows Autopilot, security, public sector, FastTrack, and more. They will be standing by -- in chat -- to provide guidance, discuss strategies and tactics, and, of course, answer any specific questions you may have. For more details about how Windows Office Hours works, go to our Windows IT Pro Blog. If you can't make it at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time, post your questions on the Windows Office Hours: November 20th event page, up to 48 hours in advance.How to Upgrade Win 11 Home to Pro?
My current PC runs Win 10 Pro; I also signed up for ESU. I plan to buy a new PC within the next few weeks, and most likely it will come with Win 11 Home installed. Can I upgrade this new PC from Win 11 Home to Win 11 Pro by using the product key for Win 10 Pro from my old PC? An article I read online seemed to suggest that it was doable.
"Org Name" is showing in winver and can't activate Windows
I am facing a complex activation issue after performing a clean reinstall. My laptop originally ran Windows 10, was upgraded to Windows 11. I started facing an error saying I'm under some organization and Windows can't activate, whereas I'm not and I can't say if I clicked anything wrong when I created my first Microsoft account. I tried to check the problem by checking the winver by windows+r command and it shows my email which is registered for licensing and beneath that "Org Name" is shown. I tried to solve this problem by various ways like slmgr and registry edit commands but all of them went in vain. Then i reinstalled windows 10 pro, erasing all of my previous data of my laptop but it doesn't activate too. However, I am now completely blocked from activating using my valid Digital License linked to my Microsoft account. The Troubleshooter fails with a persistent Script Error (URLSearchParams is undefined) and a licensing error code 0x803F7001 (No License Found). The slui 4 Phone Activation command is also unresponsive, even after running deep DISM and SFC system repairs. I am unable to use the online activation path due to the script error, and the activation components appear to be severely corrupted. Can anyone help me?
endless repair loop at boot up
Can anyone help? Out of nowhere, overnight my PC went into the endless repair loop at boot up. I did all available methods in the Troubleshoot tab and more. All failed, roll back failed, restore failed, remove last update failed, start up repair failed, command prompt... SFC Scan etc steps completed and failed to fix, restore from image failed as all images disappeared, reset failed, tried to reinstall Windows 11 failed, will not allowed me to install Windows in any one of my 5 SSD. While I was trying to restore from Restore point or images, I could access all files inside all 5 of my SSD so I think the SSD drives are still good. Initially, it will not even let me restore back to my last 11/7 restore point but after I did the unplug and hold power button for 35+ seconds, I was able to restore back to 11/7 restore point but again the same automatic repair loop at boot up still not fixed, went right back to blue screen with Troubleshoot tab. Also gone through all of the above steps with an USB Windows boot up repair drive, still problem persists! Any anyone can share some idea? Aorus motherboard bad?How to stop this Windows update?
I need to stop this KB5067036 preview. Don't want it!! Tried the Group policy OOBE tweak - changing it to to "2" for notify before downloading updates. Doesn't work. Deprecated now? Checked the Windows \WinsXs folder for pending XML's. None. Set wifi to metered connection. Well, that stopped the other 2 downloads anyway! Want to ditch JUST this KB, not wipe the entire update history, so don't suggest that.
Windows 11 Pro activation fails indicting hardware changed
Receive unable to activate windows - looks like hardware on this device has changed My old laptop was dying. Proactively purchased a win 11 pro license through my company benefits site since I knew my current system would have to be replaced. Purchased a new laptop with Win 11 Home. Changed to local account for login and uninstalled some bloatware. Attempted to upgrade to Pro and receivied the unable to activate due to hardware changes. This is an out of the box laptop, no hardare changes have been made. I tried using the generic key and the change to the new license fix posted on this site and still get the same activation error. I now have an unactivated Windows 11 Pro on the system. I logged into my MS account and checked licensed devices under Microsoft Account - Devices Strangely, it no longer lists my old HP laptop which was a win 11 pro. Just the new ASUS laptop. I had hopes to replace a few motherboard solder points and revice the old HP system for a grandchild. Concerned now that the HP system is missing that i will encounter licensing issues for it as well once it is revived. Additonal point, not sure if it matters, but I did use the same device name for the new laptop that i had on the old one Thanks, Kent EngleTwo default Windows 11 features could be making your PC performance slow
Many Windows 11 users experience slow PC performance due to certain default features that consume system resources without clear benefit. Two common culprits are the Windows Search indexing service, which runs constantly in the background and can use significant CPU and disk activity, and the Superfetch or SysMain service, which preloads frequently used apps into memory, potentially causing delays and lag on systems with limited resources. Disabling or adjusting these features has helped some users improve their system responsiveness, especially on older or less powerful hardware. If you're noticing slow startup times, lagging applications, or overall sluggishness, these background services might be contributing to the issue. Turning them off or customizing their settings could provide a noticeable performance boost, but it’s important to weigh the impact on system functionality like search speed and app preloading before making changes.Windows update active hours constraint
I’m trying to avoid my machine rebooting while I am not around to exercise a modicum of control. In my Windows Update settings I have disabled “get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” and I have “pause updates” set to 1 week. In the advanced settings I have disabled “get me up to date”, and I have enabled “Notify me when a restart is required”. Today I sat down to my PC to discover that it had terminated all my running programs and rebooted. Without any kind of prompt or warning. Which brings me to “Active Hours”. Active hours can be set automatically or manually and I thought I could set them to 00:00 to 23:59 to prevent updates running without me being around. But no, Microsoft absolutely prevents the active hours from covering a period longer than 18 hours. Why??? So far as I can tell, I have done everything available in the settings to prevent what nevertheless happened at some point in the last 24 hours. I am not aware of an urgent zero-day security problem that demanded an instant patch. Why did my machine do a forced restart when so far as I can tell I have clearly insisted that it not do so? I must be missing something! Any suggestions?
