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    AW15 R2: Windows 10 product key

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by etern4l, Jan 3, 2016.

  1. etern4l

    etern4l Notebook Virtuoso

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    Any idea how to reveal that key? Doesn't seem like it's printed out anywhere.

    The reason I ask has to do with handling a laptop replacement. Should I receive one, I would like to avoid having to re-install the system and apps, and would rather just swap the SSD in and change the Windows product key. Hope that's possible.
     
    etern4l, Jan 3, 2016
    #1
  2. Alphaguy

    Alphaguy Newbie

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    Windows 10 does the "product key" a little differently than earlier versions of windows. If you upgraded from an earlier version of windows to windows 10, it activated windows 10 based on your earlier version activation and provided you with a "Digital entitlement" to use the Windows 10 upgrade.

    For windows 10 OEM, its embedded in the UEFI BIOS. You can reveal it with the utility found at this link:

    http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7745-product-key-view-windows-10-a.html

    This utility will reveal the OEM product key embedded in your UEFI BIOS.

    If you upgraded to windows 10 from an earlier version of windows however, the product key will not be a real product key but rather a generic one from and earlier build ( I believe build 1056) of windows 10. Windows 10 upgrades activate and give you a "digital entitlement" to use windows 10 rather than an actual product key.

    The only way you get a printed windows 10 key is if you buy the retail version of windows 10 and in that case it comes in the package.
     
    Alphaguy, Jan 15, 2016
    #2
    Vasudev, iunlock and etern4l like this.
  3. Alphaguy

    Alphaguy Newbie

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    Windows 10 does the "product key" a little differently than earlier versions of windows. If you upgraded from an earlier version of windows to windows 10, it activated windows 10 based on your earlier version activation. For windows 10, its usually embeded in the UEFI BIOS. You can reveal it with the utility found at this link:

    http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7745-product-key-view-windows-10-a.html

    This utility will reveal the OEM product key embedded in your UEFI BIOS.

    If you upgraded to windows 10 from an earlier version of windows however, the product key will not be a real product key but rather a generic one from and earlier build ( I believe build 1056) of windows 10. Windows 10 upgrades activate and give you a "digital entitlement" to use windows 10 rather than an actual product key.
     
    Alphaguy, Jan 15, 2016
    #3
  4. etern4l

    etern4l Notebook Virtuoso

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    Good info, thanks.
     
    etern4l, Jan 15, 2016
    #4
    Vasudev likes this.
  5. Windows 8 product key

    Windows 8 product key Newbie

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    Windows 8 product key, Nov 20, 2017
    #5
  6. robert77

    robert77 Notebook Guru

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    Here is a nice and easy way of finding your windows key works with any version of Windows!
     

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    robert77, Nov 20, 2017
    #6