How do I find the product key for Windows 8.1

If you upgraded to 8 then you would have been provided a key.

The original Vista installation would have included a tool to create recovery disks. Manufacturers do provide recovery disks at a cost but with the age of Vista may not be available.

Drivers can be downloaded from the manufacturer but apart from network drivers any other could be managed by Windows Update. If network is supported by Windows then it should work. Vista drivers would be of little use for Windows 8 but inbuilt support in Windows 8 is quite good.

Too late now but backups should always be a two stage process, do the backup then check that the recovery will work. Most recovery disk creators (above) are extremely slow because having written the disk it verifies each one.

If you upgraded to 8 then you would have been provided a key.

The original Vista installation would have included a tool to create recovery disks. Manufacturers do provide recovery disks at a cost but with the age of Vista may not be available.

Drivers can be downloaded from the manufacturer but apart from network drivers any other could be managed by Windows Update. If network is supported by Windows then it should work. Vista drivers would be of little use for Windows 8 but inbuilt support in Windows 8 is quite good.

Too late now but backups should always be a two stage process, do the backup then check that the recovery will work. Most recovery disk creators (above) are extremely slow because having written the disk it verifies each one.

Thanks for the Info.Now I know which way to deal with this.VLanza

Windows 8.1 Product Key: I found the key. However, it has only 18 characters and it includes two zero's.

Then you have found the Product ID which has no particular use. It is derived in part from the Windows version with the variable part (what makes it the individual serial number) decoded from the Activation key.

The "hidden" value is the Activation Key. It is not printed or stored anywhere as a readable value but there are plenty of tools available to extract it from the system.

Microsoft did not envisage any particular scenario which needed the key to be known by the user for an OEM system hence no copy of the key was provided. As the key is embedded into the BIOS Windows setup should pick up the key automatically without user entry.

Even when with Windows 7 (and before) a label was provided with a key printed this was about having a visible proof of license. It had security features making harder to copy and although it had an Activation Key printed on it the factory Windows installation did not use that key.

Thanks,   It makes sense. Vic