Where is the product key located for the Surface Pro 3

Question

I have created a bootable W10 flash drive and would like to install W10 on my Surface from the flash drive. While running setup I am asked for the product key.

This Surface is a "refurbished" warranty replacement from Microsoft, I have no idea what the key is.

There is no clear text key in system properties, or system info in UEFI.

Where is the product key for a Surface Pro 3?

Thanks

Answer 1

the key is embedded in the BIOS. the old fashioned product keys won't work.

you need to do an UPGRADE install over 8.1 first. this registers the device as a W10 authorized device with Microsoft. After that, if you really want to do a clean install from USB you can do so and "skip this step". you can NOT do a clean install without upgrading.

Answer 2

I have my Surface pro 3 key , got it using http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/produkey.zip . Not able to do upgrade install , why can't i do clean install and use the BIOS OEM key ?

Answer 3

why aren't you able to do so an upgrade install? post the issues you are having please.

you can't do a clean install because Microsoft requires activation on a previous 8.1/7SP1 OS on the same hardware. Activation for 10 does not work the same way it has for years with previous OSes. You can't use the Activation key for 7 or 8 to activate 10.

Answer 4

Try This...

Open a command prompt as administrator and type:

wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey

Answer 5

Now thats a neat trick, thanks by the way!!