Windows 10 is allowed to be downloaded for free and to be installed by Microsoft without using a product key. This will keep working but with a few restrictions. After the installation, users can make a payment to upgrade to a licensed copy of Windows 10. This article explains how to Install and Use Windows 10 Without a Product key.
It’s quite important to know that whether you want to install Windows 10 by creating one or more virtual machines or by installing Windows 10 in a Boot Camp, you still don’t need to pay a dime for the installation.
How to Download and Install Windows 10 without the use of the Product Key
At first, try downloading Windows 10 directly from Microsoft, even without the use of a product key to download.
Windows 10 download tool that runs on the Windows system help user to create a USB drive in installing Windows 10. You can just visit the Windows 10 ISO download page if probably you are not on Windows to download an ISO directly (that is if you are installing Windows 10 in Boot camp on a Mac book).
Download and Install Windows 10 through the Windows machine
Note that you might be redirected to the download tool page if you check the page through a Windows machine.
Start the process of installation by installing Windows 10, just like the normal way. After that, on one of the first-ever screens, you will be asked to enter your product key to activate Windows, just click on the “I don’t have a product key” option at the bottom of the Windows and you will be allowed to continue and complete the installation process. Though, as you continue the process of installation, Windows might choose to ask you again to enter your product key, just find out for the same similar option as the one chosen before (I don’t have a product key) to skip the screen.
In case you couldn’t find the option to skip the screen at the moment, you can provide the KMS client setup key to continue from that angle. You will not be given an activated Windows copy by these keys unless you’re in an organization with a Key Management Service, but know that you won’t be able to bypass the Windows installation process.
Immediately after you select this option, you are allowed to install the “Windows 10 Home” or the “Windows 10 Pro”. But note that, if you wish to pay for an upgrade to the paid version, it will be cheaper to upgrade to Windows 10 Home, you may even want to install the Home version. Whichever way, Windows 10 will be installed normally.
LIMITATIONS
After the installation of Windows 10 without the use of a product key, the Windows will not be activated. Though the unactivated version of the Windows 10 does not have much restrictions. And with Windows XP, Microsoft used Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) just to disable access to the computer. Your Windows will just keep complaining to you in some fewer ways.
At the start, you may not notice much difference. Gradually, your Windows will start nagging a bit.
Firstly, you will notice at the bottom right corner of the screen a “watermark”. Also, you will be seeing the “Windows is not activated” there. Activate Windows now” link just at the bottom of the Settings app. That is the only form of nagging you can see.
Secondly is that you won’t be able to change the desktop wallpaper from the “Personalization” and then to the “Background” screen in the Settings app. from there, you will then see a message at the top of the Windows that “You need to activate Windows before you can personalize your PC” and then the options for changing wallpaper will be in gray, meaning that your wallpaper can not be changed.
LIMITATIONS (CONTINUE)
A user tends to change their wallpaper in several other ways, which include, opening an image from the Photos app and clicking on the menu button, then clicking on “Set as”, after clicking on “Set as background”, you can also achieve this by right-clicking on an image in the “File Explorer” and click on the option “Set as desktop background”. You will be switched back to a black background by doing this on Windows 7. But doing this on Windows 10 does not work out.
In File Explorer, the Windows 10’s included wallpaper is found under the C:\Windows\Web folder.
Apart from these limitations, the Windows 10 system will continue working forever without any problem. Also, there won’t be any nagging as you have before, apart from the watermark, that you will get all the system updates and everything else is functionally working well without developing any fault. Windows 10 update is the only option that could change this. Whereas Microsoft has been lenient since the emergence of Windows 7.
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