Resetting to factory settings without serial code

[louism98]

I have a copy of windows 8 installed on my PC but I have lost the box and everywhere the CD key would have been written.
Is it possible to completely refresh windows without the Key?
And/Or is it possible to find the key from inside windows?
Cheers

 

[USAFRet]

Belarc Advisor will probably extract that license key. Along with a host of other info you may need.

 

[bgunner]

Yes Belarc Advisor works well, I used it my self to get my Win 10 key, but if you use the Refresh or Reset options from in side Windows 8 you do not need to have the windows key. It automatically will extract the key and reinstall it when it resets the OS to stock or refreshes Windows files. Personally I like using the fore mentioned program and keeping the code handy for if I need to swap out drives if they fail.

 

[USAFRet]

If this was a factory installed OS, with a factory supplied Reset partition, you'll not need to worry about the license key.
Invoke it, and it will do its thing. Of course, this wipes out all data on the PC, bringing it back to exactly how it came from the store.

But having a printout of what Belarc Advisor reports is always a handy thing to have.