Windows 10: Is there a way to recover a Windows 10 Product Key if Windows won't start?

Hello Everyone,


Before I ask the question, here's the situation:


I'm trying to help out a work colleauge whose personal laptop, a Toshiba Satelite that began life with Windows 8 (Sorry, it's not with me as I type this, so I can't be more specific than that), is not currently able to start Windows 10. It keeps booting to the Windows Recovery Environment and none of the recovery options therein seem to be able to fix the problem.


I've also tried using the bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot commands in the Recovery Environment Command Prompt. Although they report that the operations complete successfully, the laptop is still constantly booting to the Windows Recovery Environment.


What I have been able to do is boot the laptop with a Linux Mint Live DVD. So the plan (thus far) is, when my colleauge is able to get some sort of USB Memory Stick or a USB Hard Drive, we'll boot the laptop into Linux Mint, so she can move her data over to said USB device and then attempt a "clean" install of Windows 10 with an installation DVD I have previously made using the Media Creation Tool (Build 1909). We downloaded all the drivers for it from Toshiba's website (although they only seem to supply Windows 8 drivers for this particular model), and burnt them to a CDR.


I have done this kind of restore before with a relative's laptop that had a simelar problem (we were able to trace that back to a Windows Update problem), but I'm a bit nervous able this particular laptop as, unlike my relative's laptop, I do not know the full history of my colleague's laptop beyond that it began life with Windows 8 and was upgraded to Windows 10 (i.e. I don't know HOW it was upgraded to Windows 10. Using the free upgrade offer? Did she / someone she knows buy a Windows 10 licence for her? I have no idea (and she doesn't seem to recall.)).


For this reason, before any wiping of the hard drive occurs, I would like to know the Product Key for Windows 10. I know, I know... I shouldn't need it to get Windows 10 up and running (I didn't need it when I restored my relative's laptop, and that also started life with Windows 8.) but as I say, I don't know the full history of my colleauge's laptop.


The other issue is, when I do a clean install of Windows 10 on my colleauge's laptop, I won't have internet access, so am not sure if I'll be able to activate Windows 10 over the phone.


My greatest fear is that I'm going to leave her with a laptop where Windows cannot be activated... which is what prompts me to ask the following question:


Given that Windows 10 will not start on this laptop, does anyone know of a way (either using the Windows Recovery Environment or Linux Mint) where I could recover the Product Key for Windows 10?


Any advice / reassurance anyone can give me is greatly appreciated.


Thanks everyone.

:)

 

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Nope, you need to install Windows 10 first and make sure the Windows 7 key is transferred to your Windows account after you've installed Windows 10 (not quite sure how that works). I missed the last step and I could not activate Windows 10 after a re-install... Microsoft seem to have done everything they can to make it a PITA. Also, it's technically too late to do this now anyhow, as the upgrade offer has expired. But KMSPico works quite well...

As for getting rid of Windows, delete the Windows folder.

 

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