surface pro 2 help about product key

[Harshana Abeysinghe]

so i bought a surface pro 2 last week, and did a stupid mistake, i had a windows 8 key and i purchased a media center key when it came out last year, and now its working with ma laptop, i thought the same media center key would work with surface and i tried going to controll panel,clicked "add features to windows 8.1" then entered da key,which it said okay and restarted... but unfortunately, after the restart, my surface shows a messge that windqows isnt activated....and when i go there, it shows that the key has been used by a another pc...now i want my old windows8.1 key which came with surface....so ma question is

"how can i get my old original key??also i tried giving a windows 8.1 key (which i got from my college , but never used) and it says the product key isnt supported....
is there any way i can activate this or go back to old one without paying for a new key????

 

[AndyCalling]

On every Windows PC with OEM OS installed there will be a security sticker with the activation key on it. If such was not provided, contact Microsoft as it was missed by mistake or you've been sold a dodgy device (unlikely with a new S2 of course). You may find you need to return the device to the shop if it had no Windows licence sticker attached to get a replacement.

 

[minhthanhvn]

why don't you use "activate by phone"? I used it when I had this problem. You don't need a key if you use this method.

 

[MBytes]

On every Windows PC with OEM OS installed there will be a security sticker with the activation key on it. If such was not provided, contact Microsoft as it was missed by mistake or you've been sold a dodgy device (unlikely with a new S2 of course). You may find you need to return the device to the shop if it had no Windows licence sticker attached to get a replacement.

Since Windows 8 this is no longer true. The product key is store in the UEFI.

 

[jywang]

I posted a warning about this. You have to do a system restore. The activate by phone doesn't work.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

 

[AndyCalling]

Blimey, that's a worry. I have no UEFI as I have a much older mobo. Also, since I downloaded 8.1 from the store, a System Restore is not permitted. I shall have to get an answer out of MS as to how to proceed. Thanks for highlighting this issue for me.

Though it seems like a conundrum, you can be sure MS won't leave us all high and dry. It would be a PR disaster if they did.

 

[MBytes]

You can do a phone activation and it always works. Just hit 0 repeatedly to talk to someone.