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So, I'm having big trouble trying to fix my friend's computer. She stopped a Window's update shutting down the computer (I know, it hurts just to read).

Now the PC is not booting. I tried everything to fix Windows, but not succeeding. So I copied the two partitions (Data & OS) onto another hard disk, so I have a copy of everything. I wiped down the hard drive and clean installed a copy of Windows 10, using the ISO downloaded from the Microsoft official site.

And here the problem arrives: there isn't any sticker with Window's activation key on. And the key is not anywhere else.

So I'll have to bring it out from the backup. And here I'm needing help: where do I find this key? It is even findable or is encrypted and not decryptable?

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    It’s stored in the ACPI table. You don’t need to know the license key to install or activate Windows 10
    – Ramhound
    Commented Mar 3, 2018 at 20:17
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    Just install Windows 10. It’s literally that easy.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Mar 3, 2018 at 20:18
  • Granted, you'll have a watermark in the bottom-right of your screen but otherwise, you don't need the product key to install windows.
    – Ultrasonic54321
    Commented Mar 3, 2018 at 20:20
  • @Ultrasonic54321 What type of watermark are you talking about?
    – Fly_7113
    Commented Mar 3, 2018 at 20:27
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    For next time know that you should have used System Restore to revert the machine back to its pre-failed update state instead of reinstalling Windows.
    – I say Reinstate Monica
    Commented Mar 3, 2018 at 20:50

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So, I just pointed out what my problem was: wrong Windows version. In fact I installed the pro edition instead of the home, which was my case. During the installation I hadn't to insert the license key, because it was still in the computer. Thanks a lot to the people who helped me down in the comment section of the question

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  • I'll mark the question as answered the sooner I can
    – Fly_7113
    Commented Mar 4, 2018 at 22:56

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