Upgraded to a faster SSD, cloned the old drive, and everything seemed smooth—until Windows hit me with that Activate Windows watermark. No settings were changed, no updates were installed, but now personalization is locked, and updates won’t install. Microsoft wants a product key I don’t have. Why does this happen, and what’s the fastest way to fix it without reinstalling?

Turns out, Windows don’t like it when you swap storage, even if it’s the same system. The activation is tied to the hardware, and cloning a drive sometimes makes Windows think it’s on a whole new device. Officially, you’d need to reactivate with a legit key, but some people use kmspico to bypass that check and restore activation. Just a heads-up—this tool isn’t Microsoft-certified, so it should be used wisely. If you go this route, always download from a reliable source to avoid issues with sketchy versions.