WIndows 10 upgrade Inspiron 3542 demanding CD Key

Why?  I have genuine activated Windows 8, then why the key is invalid? And what should I do now?

Hi,

First of all, you have to have an activated install of Windows 8.1, not Windows 8, to upgrade to Windows 10.  If you haven't yet done so use Windows Update to go from 8.0 to 8.1.   

EDIT:  If, when doing the upgrade, it asks you for the product key simply don't input anything and click on "next".  It should force the install to read the activation code already on the system. 

Assuming you're at Windows 8.1 then when you using the install utility from Microsoft you have to make sure you're selecting the option to Upgrade, not to install.   In order to do a clean install of Windows 10 you must first do the upgrade.  That will cause your Windows 10 install to be marked as "Activated" and when you then try to do a full, clean, install, it will read the activation code for Windows 10.

You should not need any product key to upgrade an activated version of Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.

Todd

not sure if we are talking about the same thing, but im gonna throw this out to you. this is from this site.. said you cannot upgrade to windows 10 at first from a DVD.. you must do the upgrade through the internet the first time. then after you do that , you can do a clean install. this is from one of the Faq's or whatever from the windows 10 forums. look through them, and it should help. if this is diff, sorry, just sayin

We published a knowledge base article about the Upgrade / Clean install process for Windows 10.  

I wish I could help. I have an Inspiron 3847 with windows 8.1 and I get the same message. Why? I bought the machine from Dell with windows installed. Frustrated in mtl.