Activate Windows 10 on NI PXIe Controller

Issue Details

• I recently purchased a NI PXIe Controller with a Windows 10 Operating System, but I'm getting a message saying that windows is not activating.
• I have (re)-installed Windows 10 on a NI PXIe Controller from a backup image created based on the article "Moving Pre-Installed Image to New PXI Hard Drive". How can I activate Windows 10 on my controller?

Solution

PXIe controllers that have been purchased with Windows 10 have a unique digital product key inserted into the BIOS of the system. Therefore, after installing Windows you need to connect your controller to the internet to activate your Windows automatically. 

If you do not have internet access you will need to activate by phone. If your PXIe controllers have Windows 10 Pro installed, you can call Microsoft and quote the Product ID from Start button » Settings » Update & Security » Activation.
As of Aug 2019, all NI Windows 10 PXIe controllers are shipped with Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. If your PXIe controllers have Windows 10 IoT Enterprise installed, you can use Key Management Service to activate by phone.

Additional Information

• If the above steps fails with an error, you can click the Troubleshoot option in the Activation Settings for further help.
• If your PXIe controllers have Windows 10 IoT Enterprise installed, you can also try the following steps:
  • Make sure Windows 10 IoT Enterprise Product key is properly injected. Run slmgr /dlv in command prompt, Partial Product Key should give 7CFCC.
  • Try to recover using Windows 10 IoT Enterprise USB Recovery Media (Multilanguage: 787269-03, Simplified Chinese: 787269-0318).
• If all the above steps fail, we recommend sending unit back to RMA.