If you’re facing this issue but believe that your product key is genuine, the Microsoft Genuine Advantage Diagnostic Tool (MGADiag) is a better option. Now, this doesn’t give a great solution as it also leaves your system exempted to Windows updates. When this happens, most users choose to bypass online validation or remove WGA after its installation. Occasionally, this also happens to users with genuine product keys. This will happen until a genuine product key is used to activate the operating system. The wallpaper and background are set to default which gives the user no option to personalize.Ī notification that reads “Activate Windows” is posted to your desktop. If the key is flagged, your Windows copy gets banned from receiving security updates.
The WGA feature uses an algorithm that checks software program keys against those blacklisted. In an attempt to prevent mass piracy of the software, Microsoft introduced a new method of verifying the Windows key called Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). With over a billion active devices running on Windows 10, Microsoft indicates that 57% of those are using the software illegally. Over the past decades, MS Windows OS remains to be the most pirated operating system. Software piracy is a common act among computer users.
