New Product Key needed - help !

Caroline B · 25 Oct 2018

i am not tech savvy so please be gentle! I bought a Lenovo laptop in January via a company on Amazon for personal use. It was faulty and the company exchanged it. It was a good spec for the money. I suspect that the company supplies in bulk to organisations and this was a surplus model.

All has been fine with it until last week when messages started appearing when I started the laptop up that the Windows License was about to expire and I needed a new activation (product ?) key. When I looked in Settings, it is running Windows 10 Professional not Home as I had expected (I have little idea what the difference is !). The company that I bought from will only refund the purchase price if I return it. I don't really want to do this as a) I would have to pay more money to get a similar spec and b) it is a lot of hassle setting up a new one.

I can see from Googling that you can buy new Licenses/Product Keys but I am very unsure what I need as this isn't a new installation of 10 and I don't want to waste my money buying something that won't work. What do I need to buy or should I just send the laptop back and get a refund ??

Many thanks

dalchina · 25 Oct 2018

Hi, if you post the exact message we might have more idea. If it was a correctly and uniquely licensed installation of Win 10, there would be no problem.
To post a screenshot please use the Insert Image icon above your post. Thanks.

If the PC was sold as having a genuine license, and it doesn't, you would have a legal claim. Or the supplier is dodgy.

Windows 10 Home vs. Windows 10 Pro: What's the Difference, and Which One Is for You? | NDTV Gadgets360.com

You can easily research the difference.

Pro is a lot more expensive than Home.
To me the most useful extra features in Pro are the additional Windows Update controls.

Problems with Windows updates and feature updates are rife with the last two major builds (1803, 1809 - 6 monthly builds). Utterly exceptionally MS has completely withdrawn the latter after release in October.

If you have an unused or redundant retail license for Win 7 or Win 8, you could most likely still use that.

Indeed, buying a Win 7 license could be a cheaper option.

Caroline B · 25 Oct 2018

Thank you for your reply. I can't screen shot the message as I have to close it to allow screen shot to save (or do anything else)! But the Message says (In a blue box) "Your Windows License will expire soon. You need to activate Windows in Settings" - plus Go to Settings or Close.

I don't have any other License - previous laptop was damaged by the dog and scrapped ! The laptop was sold as 'new', but other than noting that it had Windows 10, I would have assumed that it was a Home version (but probably didn't check that ) and I would have no problem with the license as assumed that the license wouldn't/couldn't be an issue

If this is really going to be a problem I will just have to send it back and start again.

Thanks for the help

dalchina · 25 Oct 2018

Please post a screenshot similar to this:

Please follow this:
Determine if Windows License Type is OEM, Retail, or Volume | Windows 10 Tutorials

Try this utility and post the results to see what sort of license you have.
ShowKeyPlus - Windows 10 Forums

If you had Win 10 on the other laptop, the license could have been transferable. Further, the disk inside would probably not have been damaged, and could have been removed and reused. Some find that simply using such a disk directly in another rmachine is successful as Windows adapts the drivers.

alphanumeric · 26 Oct 2018

In showkey, if you click on any product keys shown it will x out all but the last 5 digits. Then you can safely post a screen shoot of its output. We really only need to see the last five to tell if its a generic key or not etc.
I use the snipping tool in Windows 10 to get my screen shots. Then I just upload them here.

Superfly · 26 Oct 2018

@Caroline B

Do as suggested above...

"Try this utility and post the results to see what sort of license you have. ShowKeyPlus - Windows 10 Forums "

"In showkey, if you click on any product keys shown it will x out all but the last 5 digits. Then you can safely post a screen shoot of its output."

You probably have a Home licence already. Save yourself the bucks... rather use it to buy me a Xmas present (in a coupla months)