Lately, all Windows users wish to upgrade to Windows 11; some users have already switched to the latest version. When launching on Windows 11, users should see a screen that ‘Activate Windows: Go to Settings to activate Windows Notification.’ This notification simply means that you need to activate Windows 11 to unlock all the features in Windows 11.
If you upgrade from Windows 10 to the latest version with the product key (Windows 10) via the Windows update, this Activate Windows screen will not appear in front of you. Your Windows will be activated automatically during the installation. But if you struck before the activation screen, you need to activate Windows 11 manually. In this article, we will teach you the steps to activate Windows 11 with or without a product key. Let’s have a look,
Method 1: Activate Windows 11 with Activation Code:
Using the below steps, you can activate Windows 11 manually with an activation code. To active your Windows 11, you can follow these steps,
- Firstly, open the Settings app and select the System option.
- Inside the System menu, click on the Activate now button beside the Windows isn’t activated message from the right side of the screen.
- Now click on the Change tab beside the Change product key option.
- In the newly opened product key prompt, enter the Windows 10/11 activation code and click on the Next button.
- Once done, the activation process will begin automatically, and you can use Windows 11 features.
Method 2: Activate Windows 11 Without Product Key:
If you don’t have a product key, then you can follow the below steps to activate Windows 11 using KMS(Key Management Services). For activation, you can follow these steps,
- Firstly, type Cmd in the taskbar search box and open the Command Prompt window from the search result. Make sure you have opened the Command Prompt window with administrative access.
Now type or copy then paste slmgr /ipk kmsclientkey in the Command prompt window, and then press Enter. (here, the kmsclientkey is the activation key, corresponds to the Windows edition you are using)
Home: TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99
Home N: 3KHY7-WNT83-DGQKR-F7HPR-844BM
Home Single Language: 7HNRX-D7KGG-3K4RQ-4WPJ4-YTDFH
Home Country Specific: PVMJN-6DFY6-9CCP6-7BKTT-D3WVR
Professional: W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX
Professional N: MH37W-N47XK-V7XM9-C7227-GCQG9
Education: NW6C2-QMPVW-D7KKK-3GKT6-VCFB2
Education N: 2WH4N-8QGBV-H22JP-CT43Q-MDWWJ
Enterprise: NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43
Enterprise N: DPH2V-TTNVB-4X9Q3-TJR4H-KHJW4
- From the list, select the key to activate your Windows. For example, if you need to activate Windows 11 Pro, you need to select the command slmgr /ipk W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX.
- Now a prompt will appear on the screen with the message “Installed product key successfully.”
- Once done, you need to set KMS server; for that, you can type the following command,
slmgr /skms yourserver
- Here the server might be kms.msguides.com/ kms8.msguides.com
- Then to activate Windows 11, you can type slmgr /ato and then press Enter.
- Once all the process is completed, then you are done and can unlock Windows 11 features.
Step 3: Activate Windows 11 using a Batch File:
You can follow the below steps to activate Windows 11 using a batch file.
Note: For this process, you need to Disable the Windows Defender service.
- Firstly, create a new document by right-clicking on the Desktop.
- Then copy then paste the following document to the newly created file. (click on this link to copy the needed document to activate Windows 11).
- Once the document is copied in the text document, Save as the file as Windows 11 active.batch. Then you can place it on Desktop for future use.
- Then right-click over the Windows 11 active.batch file and click on Run as administrator.
- Now the Activation process will begin automatically; it takes some time to finish.
If you find this manual activation process is time-consuming and cumbersome, you can use any third-party Windows 11 activator tool. There are many such tools available online, and you can choose the one you trust from them.
Step 4: Activate Windows 11 after Hardware Replace:
If you replace your Motherboard, Processor, and Memory from your System, this activation may be automatically deactivated. In this case, you need to activate Windows 11 with the in-built Activate Troubleshooter to reactivate your Windows. To do this, you can follow the below steps,
- Firstly, launch the Settings app and click on the System category from the left pane menu.
- Then select the Activation page from the right pane menu.
- Now click on Activation state Settings (it’s optional).
- There click on the Troubleshoot tab.
- In the newly opened Windows Activation window, click on I changed hardware on this device recently link.
- Then sign in to the Microsoft account using your Username and password.
- Further from the list, choose your System and click on Activate button.
- Once done, the activation process begins automatically.
Step 5: Activate Windows 11 During Installation:
Follow these steps to activate Windows 11 during installation,
- Firstly, open the System with Windows 11 USB flash drive and click on any key to continue.
- In the Windows Setup window, click on the Next button.
- On the next window, click on Install now button. Then on the Activate Windows page, enter your product in the given space and activate your purchased edition.
- Finally, click on the Next button and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process.
These are all about the Windows 11 installation and its different methods. However, if you have any queries or doubts after reading this article, then please leave a comment in the below-given comment box.