product key for windows?

[Dylan Clarke]

i have windows 10. but i watched a video of someone installing from a new hdd and it asked him to activate windows with a product key? and i dont have one. but i already have windows. do i seriosly have to buy a activation key?

[21rkosta]

Like @Genwyn iterated could you please specify in greater details your use case. Do you allready own a copy of windows on a certain computer and are trying to switch a new boot drive for that system?

[Dylan Clarke]

2 minutes ago, Cvet76 said:

Click win+pause to open System information and check at the bottom if your windows is activated. If it is, then you don't need to activate it. If it isn't and your system works normally, then also no. If it doesn't work normally and you reeeeeaaaaaly want to activate it, buy a key from ebay for 5$

mine says activated. so when i do a fresh install on a new drive. i wont have to put in  a code?

[TetraSky]

You've watched a video of someone installing a new HDD, in said video Windows is asking the person for a product key and you're here wondering why you don't have one? If you upgraded from Win7/8, you got a digital key, it's fine. If you bought a pre-built, the key should be somewhere in the BIOS... though I believe you can't actually see it without using a software, but even there, windows will activate by itself.

 

If windows 10 was activated before, even if Windows 10 ask for a product key during install, you can skip that step and windows will activate itself the moment you connect to the internet, as long as you haven't changed a key component of the system (like the motherboard)

[Dylan Clarke]

1 minute ago, TetraSky said:

You've watched a video of someone installing a new HDD, in said video, Windows asking the person for a CD key and you're here wondering why you don't have one?

 

If windows 10 is activated, even if Windows 10 ask for a product key during install, you can skip that step and windows will activate itself the moment you connect to the internet, as long as you haven't changed a key component of the system (like the motherboard)

thanks

[TetraSky]

Just now, Genwyn said:

If you reinstall windows you will need the key you have, write it down.

Only true for older versions of Windows.

 

Otherwise, when reinstalling windows, you can skip the product key section of the install and Windows will automatically activate the moment you connect to the internet, regardless of whether or not you've linked your digital key to a microsoft account or not.

[Dylan Clarke]

And guys I have a lenovo pc and it's not letting me boot from my USB? I can't install windows

[TetraSky]

You're in UEFI mode, which means when you put windows 10 on your flash drive, it needs to be in GPT + UEFI (Non CSM)

 

Use Rufus and a Windows 10 ISO(that you can download straight from the MS website, by using an android/ios device or a "mobile browser emulator" extension for your browser, instead of going through their terribad Media Creation tool... It's the same page, just don't use Windows to access it)

 

After that, pressing either F8 or F12 during booting process to access to boot menu, you'll be able to select your usb drive.

[Dylan Clarke]

4 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

You're in UEFI mode, which means when you put windows 10 on your flash drive, it needs to be in GPT + UEFI (Non CSM)

 

Use Rufus and a Windows 10 ISO(that you can download straight from the MS website, by using an android/ios device or a "mobile browser emulator" extension for your browser, instead of going through their terribad Media Creation tool... It's the same page, just don't use Windows to access it)

 

After that, pressing either F8 or F12 during booting process to access to boot menu, you'll be able to select your usb drive.

I don't understand how to use rufus or anything 

[Dylan Clarke]

6 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

You're in UEFI mode, which means when you put windows 10 on your flash drive, it needs to be in GPT + UEFI (Non CSM)

 

Use Rufus and a Windows 10 ISO(that you can download straight from the MS website, by using an android/ios device or a "mobile browser emulator" extension for your browser, instead of going through their terribad Media Creation tool... It's the same page, just don't use Windows to access it)

 

After that, pressing either F8 or F12 during booting process to access to boot menu, you'll be able to select your usb drive.

And what's my on my phone got to do with rufus and booting from usb

[TetraSky]

50 minutes ago, Dylan Clarke said:

And what's my on my phone got to do with rufus and booting from usb

Visit this page

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

On your computer, it will make you download the Creation Tool.

 

But if you access it on your phone, it will let you straight up download the ISO file without passing through the creation tool. Hence why you can also just use a mobile browser emulator extension for chrome. The ISO is used in combination with Rufus to create a proper bootable USB drive.

 

What do you not understand about Rufus? You literally just open the software, change to the USB device you want it to use and SELECT the Windows 10 ISO, everything else should be the right settings already.  (Partition scheme : GPT. Target System : UEFI (non GSM). File System : Fat32)

 

If you don't want to do all that. Disable secure boot, enable CSM... In bios. That should let you boot to your current usb drive if it was made properly.

[GoodBytes]

Why not just use Microsoft Media Creation Tool, it will do everything for you?

[GoodBytes]

Just a note that was missed on what was said

 - When you'll come to install Windows 10, you'll come to a screen where it will ask for the product key. You'll have the option "I don't gave one".

If you don't have one, which seems to be case, click on that, and the setup will resume and take care of everything. In your case, pull the product key from your BIOS/UEFI.