-
×InformationNeed Windows 11 help?Check documents on compatibility, FAQs, upgrade information and available fixes.
Windows 11 Support Center. -
-
×InformationNeed Windows 11 help?Check documents on compatibility, FAQs, upgrade information and available fixes.
Windows 11 Support Center. -
- HP Community
- Notebooks
- Notebook Operating System and Recovery
- HP Laptop CD Key

Create an account on the HP Community to personalize your profile and ask a question
01-25-2020 09:33 AM
Hi
I have a client that brought in their hp laptop that was not booting up. After testing we found the drive had crashe . We need to replace the driv . How would we find the OS the laptop had as well as the CD key to activate windows. Laptop is a HP 255 G5.
01-25-2020 09:56 AM - edited 01-25-2020 09:58 AM
Hi:
Some models came with W10 and the product key is in the BIOS.
Some models came with FreeDOS and the user supplies their own operating system.
The only suggestion I can offer would be to use the Microsoft media creation tool to create a bootable installation USB drive, and install W10. I would try W10 Pro first, since it is a business-class notebook.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
If the PC came with W10, then the installation media should work, install W10, and automatically activate.
If it does not activate, use the free utility that I zipped up and attached below, that will show you what version of W10 the product key is good for, and you can install that version instead.