You get assigned what should be a simple ticket, replacing a failing drive. You have the installation media ready, the new drive is installed, and this should be a straightforward 45-minute job. Then Windows Setup stops and asks for a 25-character product key, one that nobody has.You’re working on a machine you were certain had its Windows license embedded in the motherboard. The client doesn’t even know what a product key is, and suddenly a routine drive replacement has turned into a licensing headache. So, what’s actually happening? And more importantly, how do you get past the product-key screen?
I’ll walk you through the process on how to proceed when faced with such an issue.
Root Cause: In this case windows was activated by what Microsoft calls a Digital license and this type of license is recorded on the Microsoft’s side and then tied to your hardware and it can also be linked to the owner’s Microsoft’s account, which is exactly what happened here.
Environment: Window 10/11, Microsoft Digital License
Error: There are no error messages or codes.
Fix: On the Activate Windows page click on the option on the bottom right saying “I don’t have a product key” to bypass it. You’ll be prompted to select the exact windows version(Home or Pro) that you want to install, after setting this up, this will boot up into that windows version, make sure you are connected to the internet and then you can sign in with your microsoft account that’s attached to your license. For a more detailed walk through of the FIX scroll below.
The Situation
For this specific situation, this was a new computer a client had purchased themselves, so nothing was installed yet but for some reason it was getting stuck at bootup, we reimaged it but the drive kept failing and not getting recognized by the computer. So, I swapped out the failing drive with the new one. I had already created a windows 11 installation media on a flash drive, so I booted into the flash drive, and the process here should be a smooth one…at least that’s what I thought.
I get to the Activate Windows part of the setup, and it’s requesting for a product key, I’m immediately confused. I know this is a new computer, and to my knowledge at the time, the product key these days is embedded on the motherboard but yet I’m being confronted by this windows activation setup page. Since I didn’t have the key, I decided to call the client and ask them if they had the product key, and of course they didn’t even know what I’m talking about. I panic, but of course I’m still on the call so, politely I ask him to look into his notes somewhere or the box the computer came in or even the receipt of the purchase to see if there is something along the lines of product key or license key or something with the word key in it.
He mentions, he’s going to do a deep search and get back to me. That was fine with me but now I was stuck. I thought I couldn’t go forward, obviously I was wrong. At this point I was so lost that I couldn’t see the option on the bottom right-ish side of the screen that I could just select the “I don’t have a product key” option. So I reach out to my boss and I tell him about the situation and of course as you would guess he immediately points out that you can go past that activation window and continue with the installation, and that the product is probably under his microsoft account that he can sign in to activate it.
So I go back to the computer and guess what… I see the dang thing right there. It was right in front of me. So I click on it and Voilà, I’m not stuck anymore. I know, for most of y’ all this is something may be you knew but to a person out there starting out in this industry, especially people who don’t come from a technical background this might not be an obvious answer and that’s why i decided to write about this and in general it’s actually why i started IT Wrangler, not for the senior technicians, sys admins,etc, it’s for the junior tech, help desk interns, the newbies to this enormous industry.
Anyway, for a more detailed fix read below.
The Fix
If you don’t have the product key,when you get to the Activate Windows screen, select “I don’t have a product key” on the lower right. This doesn’t skip the licensing,it defers it so that you can finish the installation.
After that you will be taken to a page that requires you to select the exact windows edition you want to install on the machine. This matters, so you have to know whether it’s a home or Pro version and if you install the edition that the machine was not licensed for, mismatch will stay silent until the end.
Complete the installation and connect the machine to the internet.
Get the correct microsoft account where the license lives and sign in.
Verify in Settings,System, Activation, it should show you that windows is activated with a digital license.
Prevention
Before you proceed with anything, ask about the microsoft account first, especially on client owned machines.
Then, find out and record the licensing state of the machine, again before you do anything.
Note the windows edition and whether a firmware key exists.