I don't have a product key.

[99saugat]

I had deleted windows from hard disk and reinstalled it. I can no longer activate windows. My laptop came with windows and is a genuine hp product. What should I do to get the product key of my original windows? 

[ieee488]

You need to re-install Windows 10 of same type; i.e. Home Premium or Pro.

[99saugat]

Previously, it came with windows 8 but I can't remember which version it was. Is there a way to find it?

[ieee488]

You most likely had Home Premium.

.

[99saugat]

Isn't the product key saved somewhere. Can't I extract it?

[ieee488]

Why?

It's not going to tell you anything.

[99saugat]

I wanted to be sure before getting into the work of installing windows 8 again and again.

[ieee488]

Huh?

[99saugat]

There's windows 8 and 8.1. Which one should I install? Also, it asks for product key during initial setup. That's a mess.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, @99saugat 

The specs for your notebook indicate that it came with FreeDOS from HP.

https://support.hp.com/za-en/document/c04606040

That means you had to provide a Windows operating system with a product key.

You are going to have to dig through your closet and find the Windows product key.

Unfortunately, no one here will be able to help you with that.

If you had previously upgraded your PC to W10 you can try this...

Make bootable W10 installation media using the media creation tool at the link below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

When you get to the part of the installation that asks you to enter a product key, select the 'I don't have a product key' option, and W10 should install and activate once you are connected to the internet, since Microsoft has a record of your PC previously having been upgraded to W10.

If that doesn't work, unfortunately, you are out of luck.