How do I access the windows 8 product key for my acer laptop?

asad123

I bought an acer laptop 1 and half years ago and it's been running perfectly until less than a week ago when I did one of the usual windows updates. It wasn't the 8.1 update as I already had done that one, just one of those security and bug fix updates that they do. I used the "update and restart option" and my laptop restarted fine. However, some features of windows working such as Alt+tab and the Start button. To resolve this I tried restarting the computer and once it began rebooting, it went to a light blue screen after the acer logo screen. The blue screen showed the error code 0xc000000d and said the Boot Configuration Data file is missing some required information. The whole file it turns out is gone so my computer won't boot, it won't recognize any installation media or operating system on my computer. I used a recovery disk but since the boot file is gone, it can't access the rest of the OS. I need to reinstall windows 8 since that seems to be the only option left but I don't have an installation disk and I shouldn't have to spend $120 dollars on a new one. I tried to go on my acer account to find a product key but I couldn't find one and acer's ridiculous customer service policy won't let me contact Tech Support because my warranty is expired. Please help me out.

Ryanrr

I am sorry to hear that the computer is not working after your Windows update. As for the product key, that is injected into the mainboard and is not necessary when you user OEM recovery media. If you do not have a set of recovery media, they can be purchased from the Acer Store.