If you buy a physical retail edition such as on a USB stick or DVD, you’ll still get a product key. There are still situations where you’ll run into product keys with Windows 10. Although the notion of never having to use a product key ever again sounds great. Based on the long history of activation horror stories, some of you out there may be a little suspicious of this new process. When I was done with the installation Windows activated right away.įor longtime Windows users the absence of product keys in Windows 10 digital installs is a relief and at the same time a little worrying. Shortly after I installed Windows 10 on my laptop, I swapped out my old spinning hard drive for an SSD. That said, I can vouch from personal experience that a post-upgrade clean install of Windows 10 just works. I say should, because even in this brave new world without product keys I find it hard to believe there won’t be a few installation horror stories involving product activation.
Once your Windows 10 upgrade activates, you can grab a Windows 10 install image, do a clean install, skip the screen asking for product keys, and you should just re-activate again after the install is complete.
