I received a computer related question on a third party website where I earn supplemental income. I received a question pertaining to reinstalling Microsoft Windows 10. Here is the question quoted verbatim.
I have windows 10 on this computer but I don’t have the license number. Can you tell me what it is somehow. I need to reinstall on this machine.
This individual owned a retail version of Microsoft Windows 10 operating system. Microsoft Windows 10 license information is stored on Microsoft’s servers. As long as your current version of Windows 10 is activated, then all you have to do is reinstall Windows 10.
You will not need to reenter the license key. Right click the Windows 10 start menu button. Choose “System”.
Scroll down and then click on “Change product key or upgrade your edtion of Windows” to verify that your version of windows is active. You are NOT actually changing or upgrading. Look for “Windows is activated with a digital license”.
Now all you have to do is install the exact same version of Windows and it will automatically get reactivated. Yes, another way to get there is click on “Activation” tab on left in “Settings”. This individual was able to verify that indeed Microsoft Windows 10 was activated.
The main tip in this blog post is to verify in advance whether or NOT Microsoft Windows 10 is activated. If it is activated then you can reinstall Microsoft Windows 10 on the very same computer for free. However, you must be certain that the computer hardware is the same.
If you replace the motherboard I think you would just have to re type the product license key. Caveat emptor, some Microsoft Windows 10 stickers do not include the certificate of authenticity license key. If your version of Microsoft Windows 10 is NOT activated, you will need this license key.
If you do NOT know it or have it available, there are some tools out on the Internet that may be able to obtain your product activation key from the Microsoft Windows registry. You should always save your Microsoft Windows 10 activation key, just in case something happens and you need it. Computers that you purchase brand new with Microsoft Windows 10 already installed often times have generic Microsoft Windows 10 stickers without the actual product license key.
This is the case because these are considered original equipment manufacture licenses. Microsoft Windows 10 retail licenses are different. You should have received either an email message with the actual product key or a sticker with the product license key.
You should save this email and license key somewhere for safe storage in case you need the product license key. Another tip is that in order to reinstall Microsoft Windows 10 without paying for a new license you must reinstall the exact same version of Microsoft Windows that was previously installed and activated. For example if you had Microsoft Windows 10 professional installed and activated then you would need to reinstall Microsoft windows 10 professional.
As long as your computer has an Internet connection, then your Microsoft Windows 10 copy will automatically become reactivated.