How to get around PIN for Microsoft Account

Wither 4 said:

I bought a used computer which has Win 10.....

Wither 4 said:

After I got it to boot, I wanted to customize the desktop and other things. I found out that the Win 10 installed doesn't have a product key. I've asked the seller if he has it but haven't heard back. I'm on the fence, for other reasons, to return it rather than spend $139 for a product key.

All installs of Windows 10 will have a product key, if you don't supply one when asked during the install then Setup will install a generic key, one that allows Windows to be installed but won't activate it. Each edition has its own generic key, listed here:

Generic Product Keys to Install Windows 10 Editions

How old is this PC? What version of Windows was it supplied with originally? For OEM pre-installed Windows 8 or later the key will have been embedded in the bios firmware by the OEM, and can be read with ShowKeyPlus

For a Windows 7 PC a key can be found on the CoA sticker, either on the underside of a laptop, inside its battery compartment or somewhere on the side or back of a desktop PC.

Any windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10 key you may find in this way can be used to activate an already installed unactivated Windows, just change the installed key to the one you have found.

NB: a Home key won't activate Pro. A Pro key can be used on an installed Windows 10 Home, it will upgrade it from Home to Pro and activate it as Pro.

For a Win8/10 key found by ShowKeyPlus it will tell you the edition of the key (if it says Core that means Home). For a Win7 key ShowKeyPlus has a Check Edition option where you can type in the key and it tells you what it is.

You can use your Windows 7 product key with the ISO if it is is the same version of Windows 7. Alternately, you can can use the same Windows 7 product key to do a free upgrade to Windows 10.

Wither 4 said:

Hello Bree- Good to see you. I'm the same guy with the username wither x in the Vista and Win 7 forums and we've had previous interchanges....

Hi. Yes, I have the same name across the forums, I try to keep an eye on all of them....

This system is about 13 years old. It originally had Win 7 Pro and I have the Product key. It still has the original BIOS....
...In all honesty, I would like to dump Win 10 and use an ISO for Win 7 available in the Win 7 forum. I was going to ask SIW2 if I needed a separate product key to use the ISO. Maybe you know.

If you can find an OEM Win7 Pro ISO for this model then it will install and self-activate from the SLP marker in the bios. If not, then clean install with a standard W7 Pro ISO, then use the 7oeminstaller as SIW2 describes here on 7F to activate it from the SLP marker in the bios.

....I got got looking around yesterday and found that I can buy a retail version of Win 10 Pro for less than $100, why pay Microsoft $139 to activate Home. I also found a bunch of products which provide digital licenses for as little as $10 and was going to ask if they would do what I needed to activate Home.

As I said above, your W7 Pro key should be good for activating a clean install of W10 Pro. If you try to use the key during the install it will be rejected. but if you complete the install as an unactivated W10, then change the installed key to your W7 one it will activate with a digital licence.

The last time I activated a clean install of W7 with a CoA key my only activation option was the automated phone activation, but it did activate successfully.

Bree said:

The last time I activated a clean install of W7 with a CoA key my only activation option was the automated phone activation, but it did activate successfully.

The last time I installed W7, phone activation failed. I had to instead call Microsoft support to activate it.

Wither 4 said:

Bree said- "If you can find an OEM Win7 Pro ISO for this model then it will install and self-activate from the SLP marker in the bios. If not, then clean install with a standard W7 Pro ISO, then use the 7oeminstaller as SIW2 describes here on 7F to activate it from the SLP marker in the bios."

As I understand it, the ISO's for Win 7 available in the Win 7 forum, are like the ones that SIW2 provided for Vista. I took it, burned it to disc, and then simply installed on this Vista system. I don't know how it did it but it used the same Product Key as was on the system when I bought it. I don't remember having to add the key. To my knowledge, I didn't have go through any activation, as you mentioned..

Yes, it should automatically activate if the key for Windows 7 was is embedded in the BIOS. I had a laptop that came with Windows Vista that was upgraded to Windows 7. I had to use the Windows 7 key to activate it because the embedded key was for Windows Vista only.

Wither 4 said:

For information, I decided to get rid of Win 10 and installed Win 7 Pro with the help of SIW2. I activated it via phone. I know we got off subject and I appreciate all the good information from everyone who responded.

This is not necessarily a good decision.

Windows 7 is no longer security supported and you are at a much greater risk of being hacked.

As a minimum, do not use online banking, Amazon etc.

People will tell you it is safe but remember it is NOT YOUR MONEY they are risking.

There was a major ransom attack a couple of years ago that affected Windows 7 users but not Windows 10 users (except idiots who blocked security updates).

So if anybody tries to convince you Windows 7 is secure, think twice.