Windows 10

Activation

Is your Windows 10 using a "product key" or a "digital license"?

• Right click the start button
• Select "System"
• Select "Home" (upper left)
• Select "Update & Security"
• Select "Activation"

Look for a text like

Windows is activated with a digital license

In case of a "digital license", you don't need to care about a "product key", you can just reinstall this pc and skip the dialog, where you are asked to enter a "product key".

Get product key from installed Windows 10

Get Windows 10 product key from the UEFI firmware

powershell
(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey

Get Windows 10 product key from the registry

Create productkey.vbs

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
MsgBox ConvertToKey(WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId"))

Function ConvertToKey(Key)
Const KeyOffset = 52
i = 28
Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789"
Do
Cur = 0
x = 14
Do
Cur = Cur * 256
Cur = Key(x + KeyOffset) + Cur
Key(x + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255
Cur = Cur Mod 24
x = x -1
Loop While x >= 0
i = i -1
KeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & KeyOutput
If (((29 - i) Mod 6) = 0) And (i <> -1) Then
i = i -1
KeyOutput = "-" & KeyOutput
End If
Loop While i >= 0
ConvertToKey = KeyOutput
End Function

Automatically login into Windows 10 with username and password

• start netplwiz
• uncheck "needs password"

Use a hard disk with more than 2TB with Windows 10

You have to set/format the hard disk to GPT. If your system/bios does not allow booting from a GPT or >2TB HD, you can boot from a small HD/SDD and then use the large GPT disk.

GPT has no "extended". Your disk will be "primary" and you don't have to care about it, because you can create a lot of partition on it, not just the normal "four partition on a primary disk".