product key availability

Sometimes it can be useful to reinstall Windows. Some developments, such as extreme clutter in the Registry, and the inefficiency that causes, cannot really be fixed in place.

An originally included Restore partition, or a created Restore USB, can remove everything and install Windows back at its beginning. Hopefully one has first backed up any data and software sources one wishes to still have after the Windows reinstall.

Now the question: Windows 10 came pre-installed on the computer. No Windows product key (or whatever it is called) was provided.

I found this
“If this is an OEM PC that has a valid product key embedded in its UEFI firmware chip, then you will not be prompted to enter a product key. Windows 10 will automatically use the embedded product key if its valid for the edition being installed.”

That is a big if. IF NOT, I will no longer have a Win10 system. Is there a way to be sure everything necessary for success is in place?

Showkey plus will tell you everything you need to know:

ShowKeyPlus

That's the simple answer without explaining how digital licenses work in Windows 10 and 11.

In the OS Settings I find, under Activation,
Windows is activated with a digital key

Using ShowKeyPlus I find two 25 character keys, Installed Key and OEM key. The installed key says “Default key - requires a Digital License for activation”.

I received this laptop as a gift in the summer of 2015. I don’t know if it came activated or I activated it but, as I wanted a MS account about as much as I wanted the plague, I know I never signed up for one.

Is it certain that I have to have such an account, and at some point sign into it, for a fresh install of Windows from a Recovery disk to be activated?

If I created such an account at that time, will it work to activate the re-installed system?

You do not need a Microsoft Account. Just make sure you re-install the same edition you have now, IE: Home or Pro.

My, admittedly limited, understanding is that a Windows digital license is something that exist on, and only on, whatever server MS uses to verify installation validity. Thus, if someone tries to register that copy of the OS to themselves while it is still legitimately the property of whomever obtained the original license, it will be rejected. Then that copy of the OS will not function in whatever way MS has of shutting down illegal copies.

What seems technically possible is that the activation server would be able to recognize the MB and CPU from serial numbers, or whatever embedded information it got from the hardware when the OS was first activated, needing no action on my part. Likewise, if I attempted to install that copy on a different computer, using the same product key, the hardware information would not match and it would not matter whether I had an account or not, activation would be denied.

Since this is only speculation on my part, I would like to hear from someone who really knows, if there is anyone out there. I would like to get a fresh install going, to hopefully improve performance, but I don’t want to lose the thing entirely because I’m missing something critical to getting it activated.

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OK, the answer was entered while I was keying in the question. I will mark it solved if things work out ok. It may be a week or two before I have time to do everything.

When Windows 10 or 11 is first activated on a computer with a product key, a digital gets created which is stored both on the local computer and on Microsoft Activation servers. The digital license is based on the unique Hardware ID of the computer (which is 99.9% the motherboard only) and the edition of Windows 10/11 installed. When Windows 10/11 boots every time it calculates the Hardware ID of the computer it is booted from. As long as the Hardware ID stays the same, Windows 10/11 will stay activated on its own because the digital license stored on the computer matches the Hardware ID. If you move that installation of Windows 10 to a new computer, the Hardware ID will no longer match the license stored in Windows, and it will look for a matching digital license stored at Microsoft that does match the Hardware ID. If it finds a matching digital license at Microsoft, Windows will download it and activate itself. The digital license stored at Microsoft is permanent. There is nothing any user can do to remove it.

As long as that digital license exists at Microsoft, anytime that the same edition of Windows 10/11 is re-installed on that computer, the Hardware ID of that computer will be sent to Microsoft over the internet and the digital license will be retrieved, Irregardless of who installed it or if they used a MS Account or not, or how many times Windows 10/11 has been re-installed on that computer. MS does not block digital licenses. Microsoft will block product keys to keep them from being used on too many different computers to "buy" new digital licenses for more computers than they are supposed to be. However, using a product key to get the digital license the first time is an entirely separate process from reactivating Windows 10/11 using a previously created digital license.