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How To Install Windows 10 Without Entering a Product Key

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🕑 2 minuten lezen

So, plenty of folks still sticking with Windows 7 want to jump to Windows 10 before support officially kicks the bucket (if you haven’t seen our end of support info).The big question is, how do you try Windows 10 without immediately laying down cash for a license? Turns out, it’s totally doable—at least to get a feel for it—by skipping the product key during install. Sounds simple, but there’s a few caveats that trip up some folks.

Basically, you can install Windows 10 without entering a product key, but that doesn’t mean your copy will stay unactivated forever. Unless Windows crawled into your BIOS with an OEM key, it’s kinda like a trial period. The install wizard even gives you a choice to skip inputting the key, which is kinda weird but helpful. On some machines this fails the first time, then works after a reboot or two—because of course, Windows has to make it harder than necessary.

How to install Windows 10 without a product key

Start the process with a bootable install media

First, grab a Windows 10 ISO from the Microsoft website and put it on a USB stick—using tools like Rufus or the Media Creation Tool if needed. Boot from that USB, and head into the BIOS or UEFI settings (usually by pressing F2, F12, Delete, or Esc during startup) to set the USB as your primary boot device. Once you’re in the Windows installer, proceed with language, time, and keyboard settings.

Proceed with the installation and skip entering a product key

  • When you hit the screen asking for a product key, look for the I don’t have a product key link (or sometimes it’s labeled as Skip).Click that.
  • This lets the installer proceed, and you’ll get a ‘Windows is not activated’ message later on. But that’s okay; the system will let you keep installing and use most features for now.

Once Windows finishes installing, it might ask you to activate or enter a key. If your PC previously had a valid Win 10 license—especially if it was activated before—Windows will often activate automatically when you connect to the internet. Otherwise, it’s basically installing Windows on a trial basis; some features could be disabled, but for testing, it’s usually enough.

Oh, and if you’re reusing an old disk with Windows 10 before, and it was activated? It might just automatically activate once you’re online again. Not sure why it works sometimes, but it’s a little glitch that saves a lot of hassle.

Before trying this, it’s worth checking if your PC has a pre-installed key in the BIOS. Open PowerShell as administrator and run Get-WmiObject -Class SoftwareLicenseService to see if Windows detects an OEM key—if it does, your install might activate on its own after setup.

Otherwise, you’re just running a “trial, ” and activating later with a proper key is the way to go if that’s what you want long-term.