Hard drive crash - lost windows license key

[bdarc]

My hard drive failed. Won't boot at all. Placed hard drive on a SATA to USB adapter and drive contents are accessible. I have no record of my windows 10 license/product key. This is a Windows 10 Home version. Is there any way to get the product key from the failed hard drive? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Is this a OEM PC....ie HP, Dell, Asus?

 

[StevenG]

My hard drive failed. Won't boot at all. Placed hard drive on a SATA to USB adapter and drive contents are accessible. I have no record of my windows 10 license/product key. This is a Windows 10 Home version. Is there any way to get the product key from the failed hard drive? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You don't need a product key, your account is registered, once you have reinstalled the new Win-10 OS, you have to be logged into your Microsoft Account at Settings >Accounts on your new Win-10 operating system (with the same ID and password that you were logged into Win-10 on the previous and older Win-10 system) as Windows is registered with a "Digital Licence" that is stored by Microsoft with your account details.

Login into your Microsoft account then reboot, then it will register itself and give you a "Digital Licence" after the reboot, check at Settings > Update & Security > Activation and you should have at Activation: Windows is activated with a digital licence linked to your Microsoft account. That's it you are done and Win-10 is fully activated and that is how you always reinstall Win-10, you don't need a key unless its the first Win-10 under a new Microsoft account, simple.

 

[Grizzly]

It does not need a Microsoft account to get a computer activated. My computer all run on local accounts. What MS is looking for is a hardware token that is stored on their servers for any pc in the world. As long there are no major changes (i.e. motherboard change), the token is always valid and a new HDD/SSD will not change that.
If you reinstall Windows 10 (remember if you had the Home or Pro version) skip the serial key entry in the setup and continue installing. After install is finished and the pc is restarted, you will see that it is activated with a digital license.

 

[StevenG]

It does not need a Microsoft account to get a computer activated. My computer all run on local accounts. What MS is looking for is a hardware token that is stored on their servers for any pc in the world. As long there are no major changes (i.e. motherboard change), the token is always valid and a new HDD/SSD will not change that.
If you reinstall Windows 10 (remember if you had the Home or Pro version) skip the serial key entry in the setup and continue installing. After install is finished and the pc is restarted, you will see that it is activated with a digital license.

That might be true in some computers but, he still has to log into a recognised account. I've had computers that didn't activate after what you are saying and only activated after I logged into an MS account.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi,

when you do a clean install on a new drive, you will see the window below, just click on "I don't have a product key" and continue, you won't need to enter a key number as long as Windows 10 was already activated!.

 

[davehc]

Maybe an answer to Bassfisher's question might guide to the best procedure?