Windows 10: Product key issue

Hello, I recently bought a pre-owned amd pc, the product key that was installed on the pc was fine as I was able to update without any issues, well my friend was cleaning it for me and decided to do a brand new installation of windows 10 pro … well it was pirated and now I'm dodging any update on the fear my pc will be water marked, so he wiped my data with the fresh installation and now when I run any product key finder in my pc I get a key but when I try to change the product key in the activation settings it says 'to activate with this product key, this pc will need to connect to your organizations activation service' I then press activate it says 'we cant activate windows on this device as we cant connect to your organizations activation server' is my old product key gone for ever or what do I need to do? buy a new windows? please get back to me someone thank you.
Declan

:)

 

product key

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

Please follow the below steps to resolve this issue:

Steps:

• Press and hold Windows key + R.
• Type ‘slui 3’.
• Enter your old product key and try to change product key
• Use the new product and check if you are able to activate.

For more information please follow the link given below, this information is provided by Andre Da Costa.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wintp-insider_install/how-to-activate-and-resolve-common-product-key/33f31475-93b3-4d1c-812f-4b21fbd807a7

Please get back to us if you are still facing this problem.

Hope the information helps to fix the issue, if you have any further queries, feel free to post. We are here to assist you.

Regards,

Guru Kiran

 

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).