Swipe in from the right side, tap Settings, Control panel, System and Security, System and very near the bottom of your screen you'll see "Windows is Activated". There will be an option to click to another page if you wish but there is no need to.

Mine is Windows 8 but I imagine that was not changed when 8.1 was created.

Thanks so much owbist.

I went right to it with your instructions.

I guess they do things a lit different since I bought my last computer.

Have a great day.

Are you sure there isn't a product key sticker on the bottom of the machine? Or maybe in the battery compartment.

If not there are number of free apps that will retrieve the key for you. One is Belarc Advisor. Its a very good idea to keep a written record of the windows product key in case you have to do a clean install of the OS.

I thought there should be a sticker too but there is only a very small windows 8 sticker on the bottom. I pulled the battery to check again and there's nothing there.

I did find the product number using owbists instructions. I then did a print screen of the system info that shows the product ID, printed it out and filed it away in case of emergency. Agree...always keep a hard copy of the important things.

Thanks for the free apps recommendation.

Judy

I thought there should be a sticker too but there is only a very small windows 8 sticker on the bottom. I pulled the battery to check again and there's nothing there.

I did find the product number using owbists instructions. I then did a print screen of the system info that shows the product ID, printed it out and filed it away in case of emergency. Agree...always keep a hard copy of the important things.

Thanks for the free apps recommendation.

Judy

I thought there should be a sticker too but there is only a very small windows 8 sticker on the bottom. I pulled the battery to check again and there's nothing there.

I did find the product number using owbists instructions. I then did a print screen of the system info that shows the product ID, printed it out and filed it away in case of emergency. Agree...always keep a hard copy of the important things.

Thanks for the free apps recommendation.

Judy

I have to start posting from my computer..not my phone. Yikes...what happened.
Sorry for all the duplicates.

Judy that number you saw is NOT the product key. You need to install Belarc as azbound suggested. Then run it and the key will show about half way down the page, record this. Strange that you confuser does not show it on the case.

Next time you are close to the store pop in and ask about it or ask to be shown on the display model.

Will do owbist.
Will post back when I'm done.
Thanks so much

Owbist and azbound...

Following your advice, I had Belarc do a computer profile summary of my laptop.

I do see a product key listed with this endnote:

"e. This may be the manufacturer's factory installed product key rather than yours. You can change it to your product key using the procedure at http://www.belarc.com/msproductkeys.html.";

I followed the link to change my product key, but alas, the operating systems listed only went to Windows 7.

I've been on google for an hour and can only find dead links on how to do this in Win 8.1.

Laptop was purchased online BestBuy so I doubt the store will help me. I will check their site or contact the store today if I get the chance.

How big an issue is this if I leave what seems to be the factory installed product key as is?

"One of the improvements Microsoft is making to Activation 3.0 for newly built machines that come preloaded with Windows 8, you wonâÂÂt have a COA (Certificate of Authenticity) sticker attached to the machine anymore. Instead, this will be embedded in the BIOS. This will avoid product keys from being compromised and OEMs will buy what they need."

The above quote (by Andre Da Costa) comes from: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_install/no-coa-included-with-pre-built-pc-does-it-matter/3f3868a2-1e0c-4429-9a69-2986e5f33fc4

Could that be why you're not finding a physical sticker?

WOW! Thank you Chuggerguy, interesting stuff. Andre De Costa's comments were well worth the time to read.

Judy, why would you want to change the product key? I just ran Belarc again and compared the key they show to the one I recorded on my installation DVD at the time of downloading and it is the same. Yours is very likely the right one also. Just make a note of it and keep someplace safe.

My Windows 8 Pro was purchased and downloaded back when MS offered it for US$49 for the upgrade version. Not sure how I received the product key, likely with a thank you for purchasing email. I have been reluctant to move to 8.1 because it seems it can only be done online, we do not seem able to download the .iso as we did with version 8.

Thanks chuggerguy...

Good job finding this great information. It sure explains a lot. It just felt very strange to have Windows already activated and I hadn't entered any key.

So now I know why I couldn't find my product key.

Owbist:

If this had been the manufacturer's factory installed product key as Belarc's summary suggested, I was considering changing it to my own. After reading chuggerguy's post I don't feel I need to do that now.

Thanks for that link azbound and owbist.

thanks so much for all your help everyone.