# Windows activation status tells me that Product ID is not available



## sooyong94

Hi, I'm having trouble with my machine. Whenever I tried to open System Panel (the one that lists your machine CPU and the amount of RAM), it seems like my Windows Activation status tells me:

Product ID: Not available










After several hours of finding out the problem on Google, I found out that the Software Protection service seems to stuck at 'Starting' status, or it just won't start. When I tried to start/restart the service, it gave me an error:










However, it's worth noting that this problem is intermittent; the service sometimes does run. 
How do I fix this without a complete reinstallation of the operating system?


----------



## SpywareDr

From the Windows 8 Start Screen, just start typing *pc info* then click on the "PC Info" that pops up. Do you see the Product ID there?


----------



## joeten

Hi possibly a refresh is what your thinking of How to refresh, reset or restore your PC - Windows Help


----------



## sooyong94

SpywareDr said:


> From the Windows 8 Start Screen, just start typing *pc info* then click on the "PC Info" that pops up. Do you see the Product ID there?


Yes, I can see the product ID.


----------



## SpywareDr

Then it should be fine. If you still feel it's not though, showing us a screenshot of the problem would be helpful.


----------



## sooyong94

SpywareDr said:


> Then it should be fine. If you still feel it's not though, showing us a screenshot of the problem would be helpful.


Thanks, I will monitor this problem... However it only happens in desktop (intermittent issue), but not Metro.


----------



## sooyong94

Hi, this problem seem to creep out again (i.e. Product ID takes a long time than usual to load, and high disk usage during load). 

Any ideas how do I fix this without a refresh/reinstall of the operating system? 

I do sometimes get an Error 1053 message when I tried to enable Software Protection service manually.


----------



## joeten

This is about your error FIX: You receive an "Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion" error message when you stop or pause a managed Windows service


----------



## sooyong94

joeten said:


> This is about your error FIX: You receive an "Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion" error message when you stop or pause a managed Windows service


I can't install that since it gave me an error message anyway.


----------



## joeten

Hi, what happens if you try system restore to a point prior to the issue starting.


----------

