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I'm making a bootable USB for Windows 10 following Window's instructions here

I have my computer dual booted with Ubuntu 14.04 and Windows 10, I'm thinking about doing a clean installation of just Windows 10 with the bootable USB and wiping everything else. I have Windows 10 already installed, so I should be able to skip the product key step and continue with installation, but with Ubuntu dual booted on my computer I don't know if Windows 10 will ask for a product key or not. (I dual booted Ubuntu after upgrading from Windows 8 to 10)

Will rebooting Windows 10 from a USB work without a product key if I have Ubuntu 14.04 dual booted on my computer? In case Windows 10 decides not to install without a product key, will typing in my current product key work? (I retrieved my product key with a script here)

Thank you for the help! I know it's a newbie question but I want to know before I try and begin the installation.

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  • What exactly is your question? You shouldn't skip entering the product key, use your Windows 8 product key, provided your using a 1511 .ISO
    – Ramhound
    Nov 14, 2015 at 3:42
  • Be sure your running that script within Windows 8.1 not Windows 10 since you will only pick up a generic key otherwise
    – Ramhound
    Nov 14, 2015 at 3:48

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Yes to both your questions, unless you've made "significant" hardware changes from the original installation of Windows. "Significant" has not been spelled out in with specificity by MS, but it seems to mean replacing the entire motherboard with a new model or some combination of other components, not just a graphics card and HDD.

Just be sure to use the actual Windows installer, don't DISM image your installation into place; that prevents proper activation without retyping the key. As long as you use the installer, you'll be fine to skip entering the key, because it will check your firmware for the old key. In the event you do DISM it into place or your EFI key storage corrupts, having the key from that script is a solid backup.

You may run into issues with Ubuntu and dual-booting, but reinstalling Grub from Ubuntu install media will solve it.

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