Solved Lost Microsoft product key

[boyboyds]

Hi,

I upgraded my HP W7 laptop to W10 and it is running well.
But somehow the sticker with W7 key got removed/lost.
I looked behind the battery - not there either.
Is there a way to recover it.....?
Belarc Advisor showed me a generic W10 key, but I do not think I can use it to reload Windows if needed.

Thanks,
-BBDS

 

[torchwood]

Unless you have actually re-installed your OS at some stage and >> had << to use the sticker code then it will be in the Windows.old folder. (provided its still there, 30 day limit)
see this thread for key recovery, posts 13/14
https://www.google.com/url?q=http:/...ds-cse&usg=AFQjCNGTStR2XD-2NF0E7BOSM46Ft91iaA

If you have never used it then its gone for good.

Roy

 

[Barman58]

If you have activated the windows 10 using the key present when upgrading then you will have a Digital entitlement stored on Microsoft servers - this will automatically activate any future installs on that hardware, without you needing to do anything

 

[boyboyds]

Thank you for your reply.

When I upgraded from W7 to W10 2 months ago it did not ask me for any key.

I was just wondering if there is a way to ever fresh reload W10 with no sticker key,
does the generic W10 key mean anything......?

If the answer is no, I better create a full image or clone it with Macrium.

Thanks,
-BBDS

 

[Barman58]

As your windows 7 was licensed, the upgrade used it to activate the windows 10 automatically.

Windows 10 does not use a traditional product key form of activation, but a new system called Digital entitlement - this is held on the servers at Microsoft and will automatically activate any future windows 10 installs (or updates) on that hardware for the life of the hardware. This system is an attempt to make the pirating of the OS more difficult, (we shall see )

a regular backup image is of course always a good idea, (I do one of my system weekly), but is not required to "backup" any local licence key which is no longer used - The generic key is there to ensure that any older Pre windows 10 era software wiill find a key if it looks for it, ( a similar thing was used on OEM wersions of Windows 8 & 8.1)

 

[boyboyds]

Thank you Barman58, you explained it really well.

I do backup data regularly, but the Image is to recover the OS, why would you create it more that once.....?

-BBDS

 

[Barman58]

I create an image weekly as it means that I can only be a maximum of a week out of date for updates to windows and all my applications so if I did need to restore from image I would only have a weeks worth of updates to load.

It also means that the fine tuning settings for the install are up to date. If you consider the amount of time it takes to get a fresh install up to date and working how you want it to. The 20 minutes or so the automatic image takes it's well worth it, (image is automatic overnight as I rarely switch my system off).

I also do a separate lightly compressed data backup but that can take in excess of 8 hours due to the amount of data concerned

 

[boyboyds]

OK, got it, you do not want to reinstall your programs.

-BBDS