Problem​


Sometimes when installing a new copy of Battlefield 3 on PC, users may be presented with the dialog box:

Title: "Could Not Activate"

Code: 
We could not activate Battlefield 3 on this computer using the Origin Account you provided. Please locate your product key to activate the game using your Origin Account.

If you have already registered, please make sure you're signing in to the same Origin Account that you previously used to activate the game.

This is a usually a problem relating to the license stored on the machine.

Resolution​

  1. Quit out of the EA App completely. By default, clicking the "X" just minimizes so make sure it's completely closed.
  2. Open up File Explorer and navigate to this folder: C:\ProgramData\Electronic Arts\EA Services (Note: The folder is hidden by default so either make sure you show hidden files and folders or you can paste it in the address bar and press Enter).
  3. Right-click the License folder and rename it to something else, such as License.original
  4. Launch the EA App and try launching the game again - hopefully the issue should be resolved. If this did not resolve the issue, repeat steps 1 and 2 then skip to step 4.
  5. Launch the EA App and then click the 3 horizontal lines to open the menu in the EA App. Choose Help > App Recovery. Allow this to finish and then reboot the computer.
  6. Launch the EA App and try launching the game again - hopefully the issue should be resolved this time. If this still did not resolve the issue, repeat steps 1 and 2 then skip to step 7.
  7. Open your game library in the EA App, locate Battlefield 3, click the Manage button and select Repair. This will attempt to scan your installation and repair it.
  8. Once finished, try launching the game again - hopefully the issue should be resolved. If this still did not resolve the issue, we recommend that you contact EA Support.
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