Here’s a complete, detailed explanation and story-like walkthrough answering the question: The Short Answer (The TL;DR Story) No, you almost never need your Windows key when resetting your PC. Windows is smart enough to remember that your PC already had a valid license. It will automatically reactivate itself once the reset is finished and you connect to the internet.
Opened PowerShell or Command Prompt as admin and typed: if i reset my pc do i need my windows key
The reset process took about 30 minutes. When the PC rebooted, it asked Alex to go through the initial setup again—choosing language, signing into his Microsoft account, etc. Here’s a complete