Sometimes the most effective way to clean up or repair Windows installation is to just format your Windows drive and reinstall Windows. Microsoft
has simplified the process of repairing and reinstalling Windows 8
operating system by introducing Refresh PC and Reset PC features.
If you’re preparing to reinstall Windows 8, run Refresh PC or Reset PC feature, you will need to have your Windows 8 product key in place before proceeding to reinstall, refresh or reset your PC. The product key is generally located on your original Windows DVD or in the mail that you received when you purchased your Windows copy.
If
you can’t locate your Windows 8 original DVD or you have deleted the
product key mail from your inbox, you will have to use third-party tools
to recover your Windows 8 product key before reinstalling, refreshing
or resetting your Windows 8 installation.
Numerous free tools are available to retrieve or recover Windows keys from the Registry. One of them is ProduKey from NirSoft. ProduKey helps you recover your Windows key in a jiffy. And the best thing is that you don’t need to install the software as ProduKey is a standalone tool.
How to use ProduKey to recover Windows 8 product key:
Step 1:
Download the ProduKey zip file by visiting the link mentioned at the
end of this article, extract the same on to your desktop or some other
location to get ProduKey.exe file.Download ProduKey
Step 2: Double-click on the executable file to view your Windows & Office product keys. That’s it!
This little program also offers you save the product key as a text file for future references.
ProduKey
also offers options to recover product key from external Windows
directory (useful if you’re using Windows in dual boot), load product
key from remote computer, load product key from all computers in your local network, recover the key from external software Registry hive.
Other
than Windows 8, you can use this freeware to recover Windows 7, Vista,
and Windows XP keys as well. ProduKey is compatible with both 32-bit and
64-bit Windows systems. Visit the download page to start downloading your copy of ProduKey.
