Windows 10: 2 Machines on same Product Key

Hi there,

I have a very... interesting problem. I bought an old Dell desktop computer a little while ago to run as a second machine for long calculations and other such things. I updated the OS to windows 10 (pro) from windows 7 (pro). It was working fine, and then I decided to dual boot ubuntu and, long story short, deleted an important partition and thoroughly messed up my machine. I realized at the time that I could take the product key from the desktop computer and put it on my laptop, running windows 10 home at the time, so that I could have windows 10 pro on my laptop. My laptop accepted the new key happily and puttered along easily.


Here is the issue. I needed to run a windows program so I re-installed windows 10 onto the old desktop to fix the problems (after formatting the hard drive again) and planned on using it without a product key for a day or two before switching entirely to linux. The problem is that the desktop automatically added its old product key to windows (the same one on my laptop) and is working correctly. Soooooo.......... I have 2 windows 10 machines running windows 10 pro using the same product key. I recently found out that this is not allowed (which I can understand) and would like to change everything back to the way that it was. However, I don't know the original product key for my laptop... How can I fix this. Can I deactivate the key on the desktop computer? I honestly don't know how this whole thing is possible! As an added bonus, my laptop can't find windows updates but the desktop can.

:)

 

Convert a Windows 8pro product key to a Windows 10pro produkt key

Hi Andre,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft community.

I suggest you to Uninstall the license using the following steps.

• Press Windows key + X
• Click Command Prompt (Admin)
• At the command prompt, type: slmgr.vbs -upk
• Press Enter, this will uninstall the product key from the computer.

Further on, install Windows 8.1 activate the copy with the product key on the new machine. Then again upgrade the same to Windows 10 using Window Update or Media Creation Tool.

Hope this information was helpful and do let us know if you need further assistance. We will be glad to assist.

 

Product key

Hi Megan,

A product key is used when activating a software.
To help us determine the appropriate troubleshooting steps that can resolve your concern, we'd like to ask the following questions:

• What product are you trying to activate?
• Are you looking for the product key to activate your Office application?
• Which version of Office are you trying to activate? To check this, you can perform the steps posted on this
  link.
• Are you looking for the product key to activate your Windows?

We look forward to your response.

 

i know the product id but forget the product key

Hello,





There is still a way to search for your product key. Kindly follow the steps below for you to know your product key:

• Press Windows key + X
• Click Command Prompt (admin)
• Enter the following command: wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey
• Then hit Enter

The product key will be revealed, copy the product key then enter it.

Give us an update on what happens.