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I am trying to restore a Toshiba Satellite C75D Windows 10 laptop.

I made the mistake of deleting all data including all partitions (dumb...I know). The Windows 10 serial number is not on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop, for some reason.

Aside from ordering recovery media from Toshiba....what are my options?

I can't find the original box it came in, so I am not sure if they included recovery disks. I am going to look though.

Is there anything else I can do, other than the above?

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    Microsoft/OEMs doesn't ships serial numbers printed on the back of the laptop anymore since Windows 8. If your concern is the serial key you can just reinstall the matching OEM version.
    – athosbr99
    Commented Jul 8, 2017 at 1:29
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    "I am not sure if they included recovery disks." -- The PC manufacturers (e.g. Dell, HP and Lenovo for sure) stopped shipping recovery disk more than a decade ago. There are usually instructions and a program for the user make his own recovery disks.
    – sawdust
    Commented Jul 8, 2017 at 1:45
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    Download the current Windows ISO, boot to installation media, install media. The OEM recovery partition is useless in 2017
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 8, 2017 at 4:18

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I'm 99.9% sure you can simply get a regular Windows 10 disk (no difference between OEM and regular version save for license and drivers you can get separately) and reinstall from that. The OS will pick up the key from the UEFI [ like BIOS ], and it should work fine.

I'm only 99.9% certain as I've gone through this exercise with a Lenovo SFF PC rather then a Toshiba laptop, but I have every reason to believe they are handled the same way. Also see THIS link which is on topic, but not exactly on point. Also this link which is even closer to the mark.

More to the point, Microsoft advise that this is how you install Windos - You can download the media from the official Microsoft site here.

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  • Great suggestions. I will check these out and report back. Thanks!
    – marcamillion
    Commented Jul 8, 2017 at 15:55
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If you're unable to recover windows 10 and don't want to buy a copy, you could always install a linux distro. There are a lot of linux variations available and they're free. Of course whether or not you should use linux depends on what you're using the laptop for. I wouldn't suggest it for gaming or work, considering the lack of available software and slightly less efficient drivers.

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  • Thanks for the suggestion, but W10 is a must in this case :)
    – marcamillion
    Commented Jul 8, 2017 at 15:54
  • I understand. Good luck. :)
    – Sebastian Hahn
    Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 11:10
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Use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool and make a USB to install Windows 10 on the laptop.

I found out that OEM copies of Windows 10 comes with a digital license, and it is something the installer can retrieve off the hardware.

I recently had to replace the whole HDD on a Toshiba laptop and the USB fully installed Windows 10, license and all, without me needing to enter a key.

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There exist partition-recovery tools such as TestDisk and its alternatives.

You will need to choose a product that has a boot CD or USB and create it on another computer. Or you could extract the disk from the computer and insert in another computer to recover.

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