I guess this was because I actually bought a win 8.1 machine that was “downgraded to win 7” by Dell? So, if you are not having joy using the Original Key ID, try the OEM key. Showkey recovered that one as well (again make sure you extract it before you replace your mobo). The OEM key listed for Win 8.1 RTM professional” was the ticket.
The original key didn’t work when I tried to use it to reactivate windows 10 (It seems Dell locked the Win 7 key (from microsoft tech guy)). I ran the showkey app (before I changed the mobo) as directed and got the “original key” as shown in the article. It was running Windows 7 from the factory. Step 2: Launch PowerShell app, paste the following command (Get-WmiObject -query select from. Step 1: Navigate to the bottom left corner of your PC screen and click on the Start Menu. The OEM key was the one I needed.ĭell sold me a “downgraded to Win 7 from Windows 8.1” machine. Follow the step-by-step guide below to recover Microsoft office product key from hard drive instantly. Running it after I replaced the motherboard (as a test) gave me the Original Key (see below, it didn’t work) but had the OEM key not available.
Thanks for the info! I had a little more to mine that I’d like to share.įirst of all, run the ShowKey software BEFORE you replace the motherboard.
Again, a handy gem to have in your tech toolbox. You can also use ShowKeyPlus to find your product key from a Windows Backup and also to verify which edition your product key is associated with using the Check product key function. Paste it in and restart Windows 10, and you should be activated. Then select the “Change product key” link.
If you’re encountering product activation issues, once you use ShowKeyPlus to find your original product key, you can use it to update the product key values in Windows 10.Ĭopy the product key and go to Settings > Update & Security > Activation.
The problem is when you upgrade to Windows 10, especially from Windows 8, and you encounter glitches with product activation, you normally don’t have a product key. One improvement introduced with the November Update is using your Retail or OEM product key to activate Windows 10. Regarding troubleshooting issues with product activation, this adds a bit of complication since PCs that qualify for the upgrade, in particular, retail licenses, will use a default product key used by Windows 10 Home and Pro. With build 10586, this is not as clearly defined since all November updates are automatically defined as from a retail channel. So if you upgraded from Windows 7 OEM or Retail, your free Windows 10 upgrade would inherit those channels.
It does not store any personal data.If you read our article on how to determine the architecture, edition, and channel of Windows currently installed, you’ll notice when you upgraded to build 10240, and Windows maintained the licensing status according to the channel. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies.
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