Windows 10: Old Pavilion Laptop Restored To Windows 8 Pro (Cracked?)

Hello,

So I had this laptop that I bought 5 years ago (Created my forum account on it. Really brings back memories lol!).

I don't exactly remember when but it was on windows 8.1 but I upgraded it to windows 10 back then when it was released. This laptop is like my grandparent's old TV that we threw in the basement for really really long (Still works though), I only use it for virtual machines (very rarely). So the hard disk failed one day and I had to find someone to fix it ( I was in Dubai U.A.E for a couple of months for my study exchange) I sent it to a repair service and they returned it fully formatted and with windows 8.1 professional so I'm wondering if it's cracked or not and if I can upgrade to windows 10 or not.

Thanks in advance.

:)

 

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If this was a laptop from one of the Large OEM suppliers then it likely had a Recover to factory condition option built in and a Windows 8 Key "baked" into the TPM (security Module).
If this is the case then the repairers should have used the recovery system for the restore, or, if this was no longer possible used a retail install media which would have seen and used the in-built key. both of these options wold mean that the install is legit and legal.
If this was a laptop from a small supplier the it may be more likely that the key / system may be cracked.

As you have already installed and activated a copy of Windows 10 on this hardware then there should be a digital licence for it held on Microsoft's servers and if you do a new install or upgrade, not adding a key, it should pick up the previous information and activate for you - any problems should be solvable by a call to a Microsoft Tech on the Number you will be given if the automatic option fails - just explain what happened, after all I cannot see anything you did wrong *Smile

 

You can run showkey plus on it from this forum to determine the type of product key it is activated with:
ShowKeyPlus - Windows 10 Forums