Is Windows 11 free without product key?

Microsoft made internal changes to Windows activation; customers can now use Windows 11 indefinitely without acquiring a license key. However, many drawbacks and limitations exist in using Windows 11 without a product key compared to Windows running on a proper license. And one should be must aware of this.

Open Start > Settings > Update & security > Recovery.
Under Advanced startup, click Restart now. Windows will reboot into the recovery environment. Then click Troubleshoot. Click Reset this PC, then repeat the same steps as described in Option 2.
No worries you can just clean install and your Windows will be activated as you have a digital license. As Windows 10 is preinstalled you have a Digital license. A digital license (called a digital entitlement in Windows 11) is a method of activation in Windows 11 that doesn’t require you to enter a product key.

If you proceed with installing Windows 11, your PC will no longer be supported and won’t be entitled to receive updates. Damages to your PC due to lack of compatibility aren’t covered under the manufacturer warranty.
If you have a computer with unsupported hardware, you may upgrade to Windows 11, but not through Windows Update. Instead, you will have to use a bootable USB flash drive or ISO file to manually perform a clean install or in-place upgrade.

How to perform a factory reset in Windows 11. To start the factory reset process in Windows 11, click Start > Settings > System > Recovery (Figure 1). Then, select Reset PC.
The product key is in the confirmation email you received after buying your digital copy of Windows.

To reset your PC, go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC > Get Started. Then, select Keep my files, choose cloud or local, change your settings, and set Restore preinstalled apps? to No.
Reinstall Windows 11 without losing data
Open Settings. Click on System. Click on Recovery on the right side. Under the “Recovery options” section, in the “Reset this PC” setting, click the Reset PC button to begin Windows 11 reinstallation.

Clean install Windows 10 from ISO file. If you only have a Windows 10 ISO file, a USB flash drive or disc is not required to continue with the installation. You can always mount the ISO in File Explorer to launch a clean install or in-place upgrade on a device with the operating system already installed.

Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8 or 8.1
On the User Account Control (UAC) prompt, click Yes. In the command prompt window, type SFC /scannow and press Enter . System file checker utility checks the integrity of Windows system files and repairs them if required. After the process is complete, reboot the computer.

Windows 11 is a free upgrade for Windows 10 users. As long as your current Windows 10 installation is activated, you can upgrade for free or perform a clean install using your existing Windows 10 product key.
You don’t need a bootable USB flash drive or Media Creation Tool to install Windows 11 on a computer already running Windows 10. You can simply mount the ISO file to File Explorer and run the upgrade setup.

This may signify that your PC doesn’t meet the minimum requirements to download or install the upgrade to Windows 11. Learn more about the minimum requirements for Windows 11. This might indicate that a driver or other software on your PC isn’t compatible with the upgrade to Windows 11.
Each different Windows 10/11 component has its own troubleshooter, and you can access them all in the settings. Follow these easy steps to fix Windows issues on your computer: Go to settings from your Start menu, then click on Update and Security.

The answer is No. As long as you select “Keep personal files and apps” during Windows Setup, you shouldn’t lose anything.

As I have mentioned above, you can reinstall Windows 10 without a CD/USB drive or with it. If you already have a Windows 10 installer media (like a CD or a USB drive), then you can install a fresh copy of the OS on your system. Since the process is the same for both a CD and a USB drive, let’s explore it in detail.

There are a few programs out there that can help you do this by creating a “virtual drive” from which you can mount an “ISO image”. An ISO image is an archive file that contains the same information found on an optical disc, such as a Windows installation CD. One free program you could use is Virtual CloneDrive.

In the Control Panel search box, type recovery. Select Recovery > Open System Restore. In the Restore system files and settings box, select Next. Select the restore point that you want to use in the list of results, and then select Scan for affected programs.

Reboot your computer into BIOS and enter the boot menu. Change the boot device order: adjust your bootable USB drive to be the first option. Exit BIOS and save changes. Your computer will restart and you’ll be asked to select and install a Windows 11 version.