Need help with windows 10 cloned disk

[Tigercub72]

Hi there

 

Yesterday I cloned a 500gb HDD onto a transcend 370 512gb ssd in order to make my laptop run faster as the HDD was simply too slow. I used their software to do the clone and it seems to have mostly worked, aside form the start menu not showing up. However I have a pretty big problem.

For whatever reason Windows no longer shows that it is activated and now wants me to reactivate it. I was wondering how I would find my windows 10 key and I dont still have to box. Is there somewhere in Windows 10 that I could find this or is there some TRUSTED third part software that I could use to find the key instead.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I don't want to have to go out and buy Windows 10 again!!

Thanks for your time!

[Rune]

Windows 10 is activated and tied to the motherboard, not a hard drive. Call Microsoft and explain what happened. They should be able to help you out.

[Enderman]

well first of all you shouldnt be cloning a HDD to an SSD, so you might as well do a clean install now

 

second, you should be able to activate windows 10 with your old key if you upgraded from windows 7/8

[Tigercub72]

Windows 10 is activated and tied to the motherboard, not a hard drive. Call Microsoft and explain what happened. They should be able to help you out.

So would it be best to just call Microsoft and try and get them to tell me the key?? Is there no way to find it inside the software or download a third party app??

[Tigercub72]

well first of all you shouldnt be cloning a HDD to an SSD, so you might as well do a clean install now

 

second, you should be able to activate windows 10 with your old key if you upgraded from windows 7/8

Why not clone a HDD to a SSD??? Speed benefits??

Anway, the issue here is that I can't find the key as the laptop was purchased with windows 8 already installed. THe issue is that I cant find the windows product key.

[Rune]

So would it be best to just call Microsoft and try and get them to tell me the key?? Is there no way to find it inside the software or download a third party app??

Provided you can prove your purchase, yes. You can try something like produkey on the old hard drive but I can't promise it will work on 10.

Edit: Huh. It actually pulled up my key on 10. Odd.

[Enderman]

Why not clone a HDD to a SSD??? Speed benefits??

Anway, the issue here is that I can't find the key as the laptop was purchased with windows 8 already installed. THe issue is that I cant find the windows product key.

you do a clean install on the SSD, you dont clone to the SSD

it causes a lot of issues with the OS since not everything gets copied perfectly, and all the crap that was already on the HDD gets transferred slowing the SSD down

usually people notice issues after several months of using the computer, such as programs not installing/uninstalling correctly, driver issues, failed updates, windows errors, etc...

 

basically cloning is the worst way of moving things

 

anyway, if your system was a laptop there should be a sticker on the bottom with the windows key

you can activate windows 10 with it

otherwise you will need to boot into your old system (if you still have that on a disk somewhere) and use a keyfinder