Prompted For A Product Key – What Is It?
Some Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 users are having a hard time upgrading to Windows 10 as they are being prompted for a product key. By default, the Windows 10 operating system does not require a product key and users should not be prompted for one, given you upgraded your computer from an activated Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 license or from the Windows 10 Preview build. However, there are some users encountering this problem and there are several reasons for this.
Solution
Error Causes
There are a few reasons why some users are being prompted for a product key when upgrading to Windows 10:
- Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 license is not activated.
- You’re upgrading to Windows 10 final release from a preview build.
- There are broken operating system files.
- Activation servers get overwhelmed due to the high volume of upgrades.
- The Windows 10 copy you downloaded does not correspond with the current Windows system you are upgrading from.
Further Information and Manual Repair
Before you can fix this problem, you need to know why you’re being prompted for a product key. Some things you should know about Windows 10 product key activation are the following:
- You cannot activate Windows 10 using your Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 product key. Windows 10 has a unique product key.
- Error codes such as 0x8007232b, 0XC004E003, 0x8007007B, or 0x8007000D might pop up during system upgrade especially when the activation servers get overwhelmed with the high volume of upgrades.
- You don’t really need to know your Windows 10 product key.
Now, if ever you’re prompted for a product key when you’re upgrading to Windows 10, you can apply the following methods:
Method One: Give It A Few Days
If you’ve been prompted for a product key upon upgrading to Windows 10, you should click on the “Do this later” option. Wait for a few days then Windows 10 will get activated automatically.
Method Two: Download A Copy of Windows 10 Corresponding Your Current System
One of the reasons Windows users are being prompted for a product key when upgrading to Windows 10 is that they have downloaded a wrong edition of Windows 10 and do not correspond with your current system.
- Users of Home Basic, Home Premium, Windows 7 Starter, Windows 8.0 Core, and Windows 8.1 Core should download Windows 10 Home ISO.
- Users of Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 8.0 Pro, and Windows 8.1 Pro should download Windows 10 Pro ISO.
NOTE: Users of Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8.0 Enterprise, and Windows 8.1 Enterprise are not eligible for the free upgrade offer.
Method Three: Ensure Windows Is Activated
If your Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 is not genuine or activated, you will get prompted for a product key. You need to make sure first your current system is activated.
- Click on Start then right-click Computer. For Windows 8 and up users, you can simply press on Windows key + X then select Choose Properties.
- When the Properties window appears, check if the Windows you’re running is activated.
Method Three: Reset License Status
- Press on Windows key + X.
- Select Command Prompt (Admin).
- Once the command prompt window appears, type vbs –rearm then press Enter.
- Exit Command Prompt then restart your PC.
- Input the product key by following the instructions given.
Method Four: Force Activation
- Press on Windows key + X
- Select Command Prompt (Admin).
- Once the command prompt window appears, type vbs –ato then press Enter.
- Exit Command Prompt then restart your PC.
Method Five: Run System File Checker
Another thing you can try doing is to run the system file checker utility to scan if there are any broken operating system files. In doing so, you’ll be able to detect problems that might be preventing the product activation of your Windows 10 upgrade.
Method Six: Contact Microsoft Activation Center
If in case you’ve exhausted all your resources and you are still being prompted for a product key when upgrading to Windows 10, you can try contacting the Microsoft Activation Center for further details. Check here for the appropriate telephone numbers to contact.
Method Seven: Download An Automated Tool
If you still experience the error after doing the methods above, you might want to try a powerful and trusted automated tool to fix the job.


The first thing that would pop into my mind is that I have lost tons of work and that something in my hardware has gone very wrong and it is dead. Luckily that is not the case and this error means that due to Windows update drivers were not properly transferred due to some compatibility issues, maybe it was a corrupt update file, etc. Of course, the reason could be hardware malfunction as well, but if everything was working fine before the update, it is a software issue, and I must say it is a common one and fixable. Please keep reading this guide in order to fix the Device not migrated error.
Find device inside device manager, right-click on it, and choose properties. Go to the events tab and make sure that the device has migration issues.
You have now 3 options for updating the driver, you can do it manually, automatically, or with the driver installer. We will cover all 3 options so you choose which one best suits you.
OPTION 1: Manually.
Close the Properties tab, go to the device manufacturer website and download the latest driver, if there are no drivers there, the only executable installer for the device skip this step and try the other 2. After you have downloaded the driver package from the website, right-click on the device and choose update driver.
Now navigate to the folder where you have downloaded your driver package and update the driver. Reboot your system.
OPTION 2: Automatic update.
Close the Properties tab, right-click on the device and choose to uninstall.
Once the device is uninstalled, restart your system, and Windows will automatically search and install the latest driver for the device.
OPTION 3: Via driver installer.
If you have downloaded .EXE or executable driver installer from device manufacturers web site try installing it, if the installation fails, try using compatibility mode for the installer. Navigate where the installer is located, right-click on it, and choose properties. Go to compatibility TAB and try installing it with administrator privileges in Windows 8 mode.
Reboot your system after this step.
This should solve the issues, however, if the issue still persists, follow the next steps.
The scanning process and repair of files will take around 15 min. Leave it to finish completely, do not restart, work on the computer or shut it down while the process is active, and only after it is finished reboot your system.
Go to the Windows update tab and click on DOWNLOAD or click on check for updates for the latest Windows fix.


In the run dialog, type control panel and press enter to enter control panel, locate recovery and click on it.
Inside the recovery screen click on Open System Restore.
Choose a date when everything was working in order, the best bet is the date before Windows update and roll it back.
Click on date, and then on next.