Windows 10: "no product key was found on your computer"

recent issues with scam artists claiming to be working for M$, seeking money to purchase antivirus. Hacker gave me my bank account info, to demonstrate that he had control of my computer. Insisted that he worked in California at office site near LA. Voice came from Indian Subcontinent.

Changed motherboard, now message states "windows reported that no product key was found on your device error code 0xC004F213"


computer had been working well, for several years, updated at least twice from earlier versions, running 10 successfully at least since 2017, without "activation problems". Current version updates without problem, apart from message that windows cannot find a product key.


Changed motherboard, not hard drive. Yesterday, telephone call again from same scam artists. Hung up.


So, now I am wondering. Is this message about failure to locate the product key genuine, or more scam artists? Why should it matter which motherboard I use, as long as the hard drive (with the OS installed) remains the same? computer boots just as it always has, without problem, even though different motherboard. Login procedure is identical with what has been working for years, since first purchase of 7.


Now, (very paranoid), I am wondering: What if, this is NOT scam artists from Pakistan? What if this message is from M$? What does that imply about the location of this "product key". Obviously, since I have not changed the hard drive, either the product key was never on the hard drive, else, it once was there, but is no longer there--but if so, WHY? How was it removed?


Is it possible that the scam artists destroyed my product key? Or, is it possible that M$ writes to my motherboard in some fashion? If the latter, that is a serious problem. If the former, M$ ought to have a duplicate of my product key, else how could the software now complain, that the product key cannot be located on my "device"?


Short version of this post: Where do I look to locate my product key?

:)

 

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.

 

Where is my Product Key if I want to re-install?


Like davidhk said. But if you really want to see your windows key, I would suggest Belarc advisor. It will give you some useful information about your system, product keys of your software is among them (not only Microsoft, you will have listed most of your keys).