Windows 10: Windows 10 Requiring Product Key after reinstall

Hello, I reinstalled windows 10 recently onto my SSD. I upgraded to W10 years ago from a valid copy of windows 7, which I believe came with my PC. If I had associated that copy of W10 with a microsoft account, it was deleted a long time ago. Windows now says it is not activated. My question is, why would reinstalling windows 10 onto a different storage device make it not recognize the copy of windows that I have? Is there a way to fix this? I've tried using cmd to find the product key but it doesn't return one, so I figure it's supposed to be a digital license.

:)

 

windows 10 key

Thanks but I don't want to do any decrypting. I want to download a Win 10 ISO from Microsoft and install it using my Win 8 key. No other steps required. Is that possible?

 

Reinstall Windows 10 with OEM product key

When you upgraded from a previous version of Windows or receive a new computer preinstalled with Windows 10, what happened is the hardware (your PC) will get a digital entitlement, where a unique signature of the computer will be stored on Microsoft
Activation Servers. The Windows 7 or Windows 8 genuine license you were previously running will be exchanged for a diagnostics key.

Anytime you need to reinstall Windows 10 on that machine, just proceed to reinstall Windows 10. It will automatically reactivate.
You will prompted to enter a product key a couple times through the installation, click I don't have a key and Do this later.

There is no need to know or get a new key, but if you have issues with Digital Licensing or the Activation Troubleshooter, you can utilize an existing Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 product key
you already ownto reactivate if necessary. or use the reset function in Windows 10.

Step 1: How
to download official Windows 10 ISO files

Step 2:

• How to: Perform a clean install of Windows 10

 

Windows 10 Product Key

Hi Oscar,

Since the laptop has no battery compartment wherein the product key is usually located, we recommend that you follow these steps to find your Windows product key:

• Press Windows + X and select Command Prompt (Admin).
• Enter this command: wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey
  and hit Enter.

Also, if you're looking to reinstall Windows 10 after a hardware replacement, we recommend that you follow the steps provided in this

article.

Let us know if performing these steps resolved the issue.