Refurbished Laptop with no Windows License Key

[G-Rock77]

Greetings,

I just got a refurbished Pavilion laptop. It came with Windows 10 pre-loaded and is in perfect working condition, but they stripped all stickers from it, including the one with the Windows license key. If I purchase the recovery media from HP, will it have the license key, and will it work on my laptop?  

I'm awaiting a callback from the refurbisher's customer service department to see if I can get a key from them (I just called a few minutes ago). For the price I paid, I don't mind doing a little legwork to take care of this (including purchasing a new copy of Windows, although I'd rather not if I can avoid it).

[erico]

@G-Rock77

If the notebook is a model that is only a few years old, then the license activation key is actually in the BIOS.  

Since the 17-121gw notebook is a 2015 model, that is where the license  activation key will be, unless the refurbisher cleared the HP Factory  Default keys.

Windows COA stickers have not been used for a few years on HP desktop and notebook PCs.

Check in the BIOS. See the image below.

[G-Rock77]

erico,

Thank you very much for your quick reply. Also, I apreciate the info about the stickers. This is my first new laptop in over 6 years, so I was still expecting a sticker. I tried your suggestion, but when I went into the BIOS, I was unable to select that option. I could see it, but when I pressed the up or down arrows, the highlighed option skipped over Clear All Secure Boot Keys and Load HP Factory Default Keys. My settings were slightly different, so I took a picture so you can see. Does this mean that the refurbisher cleared the factory default keys? If so, is there anything I can do about that?

[erico]

Yes.

That appears to be the case.

You might try clicking on the  Pending action option to see if the Load HP Factory default keys options turns blue.

If that does nothing, then the keys were cleared by either the refurbisher or the previous owner before sale.

[G-Rock77]

Bummer! The cursor skips from Secure Boot to UEFI Boot Manager, so I am unable to select that option, either. So, if the keys were cleared, would it be helpful to use the recovery media, or should I look into getting a new key?

[G-Rock77 · Accepted solution]

I found it! I'm so excited. I installed and ran Belarc Advisor, and it showed a ton of information, including my Windows License Key. I pasted that into the correct place in my Settings, and voila! It showed that my copy of Windows was activated before I did this, but I didn't have the ability to create recovery discs, which was my primary issue. Windows has accepted the key, and now I have the option to create a recovery disc. I get an error when I do this, but I'm installing an update now that I think will fix it. If it doesn't, I think it is fodder for a different line of inquiry. @erico, thank you so much for all of your time. I hope this post will help someone else who may be experiencing the same issue or something similar.