![]() If you don’t have any way to get a Windows 10 or 11 product key for free and you don’t want to live with the drawbacks of an unactivated copy of Windows, there are some third-party sellers that offer keys starting at around $20. Windows 11 Education is actually more full-featured than Windows 11 Home and has most of the same features as Windows 11 Pro, including BitLocker encryption, Remote Desktop and Hyper-V virtualization. Microsoft offers students attending certain universities and high schools the ability to get Windows 11 Education at no cost (it’s unclear if you can get Windows 10 this way anymore). If you’re in college, you may be able to get Windows 11 for free, just by being enrolled. Microsoft Student or Teacher Discount: Free We’ve known folks who used unactivated Windows for months or years without a problem, but we can’t guarantee that Microsoft won’t crack down and limit functionality further in the future. Other than those inconveniences, unactivated Windows should work just fine and receive automatic updates too. But come on does anyone actually do that? You also can’t get tech support from Microsoft should you call for help with Windows. Microsoft blocks out your personalization options if you get Windows 10 for free and don't activate it. ![]() See our article on how to transfer a Windows 10 or 11 license to a new PC for step-by-step information on how to retrieve and move your key. However, you must first make sure it's deactivated on the old PC it came from. If you have an old, retail (non-OEM) copy of Windows 7, 8 or 10 you are no longer using on another PC, you can likely use the product key when you do a fresh install of Windows on your new PC. Use an Old Windows 7, 8 or 10 Key From Another PC: Free Whether you’re going from 7 / 8 to 10 or 10 to 11, you can upgrade either by using an install disk (created with the media creation tool) or with Windows update. If you are still on Windows 7 or 8, you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Windows 7 and 8 will upgrade to 10 and Windows 10 will upgrade to 11, if your computer meets Windows 11’s stringent system requirements, which include TPM 2.0 support, at least 4GB of RAM and at least 64GB of storage space (you can bypass Windows 11’s TPM and RAM requirements but we don't recommend it). If you have a digital license, next to Activation it'll say Windows is activated with a digital license or Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account.If you already have a prior version of Windows installed on the computer and you just want a newer version of the OS on the same hardware, you can likely upgrade it for free (obviously this method doesn’t help if you are building a new PC).Click Update & Security, and then Activation in the left sidebar.Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app.As long as you connect to the internet at some point later, you won't be asked for it again. If you have a digital license, when Windows asks you for the product key, click Do this later to skip the step. Even better, it's built into the OS - this means that if you need to reinstall or upgrade Windows, you won't need to enter it. This digital license serves all the same purposes as the product key. But if you got Windows 10 by upgrading from Windows 7 or 8.1, or by buying it through the Windows Store app, you also have a "digital license." digital licenseĮvery PC has a product key. Here's how to find your product key - as well as see if you have a digital license. Note: You can still use Windows without the key, but it'll have some annoying DRM features. Same goes for major updates, like upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11. If you ever need to reinstall Windows, you might need to enter it. Your product key is important for a few reasons. Every Windows computer has its own unique 25-character product key, and it's formatted like this: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. Your Windows 10 product key is a special receipt that shows you have an "activated" copy of Windows. But without a receipt, how do you prove that you actually own Windows? Windows 10 is installed thousands of times a day on computers both new and old.
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