Hi

I bought a optiplex 7010 desktop second-hand like 3 years ago and recently I have been having issues with windows processes running at 100% constantly and general sluggishness. I was worried that the HDD was dying on me and since the PC is otherwise working just fine for my purposes I decided to upgraded with a SSD.

After reinstalling windows 10 the OS would not activate. It says that no product key was found on my device.

I didn't think windows activation was going to be a problem since I knew that it came with a windows 7 OEM license evident from the sticker on the front, and was subsequently upgraded to windows 10. I had logged into windows with my microsoft account as was suggested by microsoft. My 7010 appears on the devices panel but still does not activate.
Following this guide: https://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/windows-oem-faqs-and-downloads/
I found out that the sticker with a product key means that it came with built in OEM and I checked the ACPI tables with Read & write Utility to verify that it does indeed have SLIC v2.1

I tried using gatherosstate.exe to make a GenuineTicket.xml on the windows 10 on my old HDD and feed it to the new install which did nothing.

I have tried using the Dell OS recovery tool. This didn't work out either because 1) When I used a windows 10 iso it threw an error that there was a problem with the file. 2) When I tried using the suggested windows 7 32-bit install (No option for 64-bit, lol) I got an error saying "an error occurred while extracting image file MT5KY_N6N9GA00_W7SP1PRO32_ROW(DL).iso". Does this recovery tool even use the OEM license or is just for making boot media?

I tried to get a windows 7 pro iso from microsoft but the stupid site of course requires you to input a product key.

I made sure the BIOS is up to date.

At any rate, I am running out of options so I'm very much open to suggestions.

Regards, MrB.