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HP Recommended
HP Elitebook 840 G6
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

My elitebook is now showing the "activate windows" watermark a few months after recovering the OS due to a software corruption, I cannot access the BIOS of the laptop as I have forgotten the BIOS password. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

3 REPLIES 3
HP Recommended

Hi:

 

See if this works...

 

Install the free showkey plus utility from the Microsoft store.

 

Get ShowKeyPlus - Microsoft Store

 

Change the W10 Installed Key to the W10 OEM product key from the showkey plus report.

 

Go to settings>Update & Security>Activation>Change product key.  Enter the W10 OEM product key from the showkey plus report.

 

 

HP Recommended

It says that the key will expire soon and that I need to connect to my enterprise network despite not having an enterprise network.

HP Recommended

Somehow you ended up having W10 Enterprise and you will have to install the version of W10 the OEM product key is good for, which is probably W10 Pro.

 

If you can boot from a USB flash drive, use the media creation tool to create a bootable W10 installation flash drive and W10 will install the OEM version that the showkey plus report indicated.

 

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

 

If you can't boot from a USB flash drive because of not knowing the BIOS password, I am afraid that you are out of luck.

 

HP has discontinued assistance with clearing BIOS passwords.

 

HP Business PCs - Forgotten or Lost BIOS Password | HP® Customer Support

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