Where is the Windows 10 Product Key located on the hardware or BIOS of the HP Omen Laptop 15 -

[aettic]

I have not been able to find specific information on this anywhere. I recently ran into issues with my Omen Laptop, and needed to reimage it. Now, I only have Linux on the machine, but I'm trying to recover the Windows 10 Product key which came with the computer so I can add a Windows partition back onto it and activate it.

I read here that you can recover the product key from within a Windows Command Prompt:

https://www.howtogeek.com/660517/how-to-find-your-windows-10-product-key-using-the-command-prompt/

Which is all well and good, except I no longer have access to that, and didn't realize I would lose it until it was too late.

I read somewhere that the Windows 10 activation key exists somewhere in the device, but it's different for every device, but I've also read that these stickers no longer exist. I took the back off the computer and didn't see anything, so I also took the battery out because I read that sometimes it's located behind the battery area. No luck there either.

So, my question: Is there a physical sticker that would feature the Win 10 activation key somewhere inside the laptop? If not, is there any way I can locate it inside the BIOS?

Many thanks in advance,

aettic

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Microsoft has required all PC manufacturers to put the Windows product key in the BIOS since Windows 8 came out in 2012.

No more product key labels.  W7 was the last OS to have a product key label.

You have to have Windows installed in order to read the product key in the BIOS.

You don't need to know what the product key is to reinstall W10.

It won't even ask you to enter a product key. 

W10 will automatically find the key.

You can either clean install W10 by making a bootable USB installation flash drive with the Media creation tool...

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

...or you can use the HP cloud recovery tool to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall W10, the drivers and the software that originally came with your notebook.

Here is an info link for how to use that utility...

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool (Windows 10, 7) | HP® Customer Support

The cloud recovery tool will format the entire drive, so if you want to keep Linux on there, you will need to use the clean install method so you can specify what partition to install W10 on.

[aettic]

Thanks for the quick response. Now I'm trying to figure out how to install a Windows partition without screwing up my Linux partition, or my bootloader... Crossing my fingers.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.