Recover Windows product key using Command Prompt. From the WinX Menu in Windows 10 / 8.1, open an elevated command prompt window, type the following command and hit Enter: Your Windows product key will be displayed. Where do I find my registration key? Original Title: 'Registeration Key' When I bought my computer, all programs installed. How do I get? Registration key for what? For Windows, or some app? If you mean Windows, there is a Product Key sticker somewhere on that computer. Laptops have it on the bottom.
Looking for way to find your Windows 10 product key? Need Windows 10 product key in order to reinstall or move it to a new computer? Here this post we go through steps to find windows 10 product key using command prompt. Also, discuss how to find windows 10 product key after upgrade.
Post Contents :-
- 2 Windows OEM keys vs. retail vs. free upgrade
- 3 Find windows 10 product key using cmd
Windows 10 product key
For a long time Windows PCs (OEMs) came with a product key sticker that was often placed outside of the machine or with your computer’s manuals, but now manufacturers are storing this license within the machine’s UEFI/BIOS and the information is automatically retrieved and applied when reinstalling the operating system.
Additionally, Windows 10 introduced a “Digital Entitlement” element to Microsoft’s license which links your Windows key to an ID generated based on your PC’s hardware. But because your hardware can significantly change if you upgrade your hardware, this entitlement was expanded to become a “Digital License” when Windows 10 Anniversary Update (1607) arrived.
This means your Windows 10 license now linked Windows keys to Microsoft accounts, letting you activate a copy of the operating system simply by logging in with valid online credentials. So, if you have a newer Windows PC or you already log in using your Microsoft account, you generally shouldn’t have to search for your original Windows 10 key.
Windows OEM keys vs. retail vs. free upgrade
There are many types of Windows licenses with varying terms of use. As a general rule of thumb:
- OEM keys are shipped with a specific computer and can’t be transferred to another machine. Again, these should be auto-applied from your UEFI/BIOS when reinstalling Windows on a modern boxed PC, but you can also retrieve them manually.
- Retail keys are purchased directly from Microsoft, Amazon etc. — these can be transferred to another machine and that process should happen automatically for a digital license, though you can also “uninstall” a Windows key from a given PC.
- Those who upgraded to Windows 10 for free from Windows 7 and 8 don’t have a unique Windows 10 key. This can only be transferred to one other machine (not if you upgraded from an OEM key). Free upgrade licenses are a digital entitlement.
Check you have a digital license?
The Windows 10 Settings app has a page for displaying your activation information, including whether you have a digital license, though your key isn’t shown here:
Go to: Settings > Update & Security > Activation
If you have a digital license, you should see “Windows is activated with a digital license” or “Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account.”
You can also link a Microsoft account to a Windows license by clicking “add a Microsoft Account” on the bottom of the same page and providing your login information.
Find windows 10 product key using cmd
Using simple command line you can find your Windows 10 product key.
Type cmd on start menu search, Right click on command prompt select run as administrator.
Then run following command :
wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey
If you prefer Windows Powershell, Right click on start menu select Powershell (admin)
Then run the following command line.
powershell “(Get-WmiObject -query ‘select * from SoftwareLicensingService’).OA3xOriginalProductKey”
How to find windows 10 product key after upgrade
There’s a free utility called ShowKeyPlus that will find Windows product key after upgrade.
- First download ShowKeyPlus from this link
- After downloading it, extract the zip file then launch ShowKeyPlus.exe.
- This will Immediately, reveal your product key and license information such as:
Product Name
Product ID
The currently installed key, which is the generic product key used by Windows 10 depending on the edition installed.
Find Product Key Windows 10
The Original product key. This can be your Windows 7 or Windows 8 retail or OEM product key before upgrading. This is the product key you want if you encounter product activation issues in Windows 10.
OEM Key OR Retail: ShowKeyPlus will check for the presence of an OEM marker; that is how big name vendors activate multiple machines at the factory running Windows.
If you’re encountering product activation issues, once you use ShowKeyPlus to find your original product key, you can use it to update the product key values in Windows 10. Copy the product key and go to Settings > Update & Security > Activation. Then select the Change product key button and paste it in. Restart Windows 10, and you should be activated.
Windows 10 Download Free
Also, there is some other third party tools that retrieve windows 10 product key with one click.
Nirsoft ProduKey – Found both the embedded OEM key as well as the retail key from our currently running copy of Windows. Also includes keys for many other applications such as Microsoft Office and Adobe products (strangely, Internet Explorer was also included in our results, though no key was provided). As with some of the other tools on this list, ProduKey can load Windows keys from external sources/drives.
Windows 10 Product Key Tool – Made by the developer of EasyBCD, this tool located our UEFI OEM key but didn’t find the retail license on our Windows To Go drive.
Winkeyfinder – Found our retail key but Dell’s UEFI OEM key wasn’t displayed.
Magical Jelly Bean KeyFinder – Returned the retail key but not the UEFI OEM key. This software can also load registry keys from Windows installations on other drives (tools > Load Hive). Listed our Windows 10 Pro install as Enterprise.
Hope now you can easily find out your windows 10 key easily. have any query, feel free to discuss on comments below. Also, read:
Serial keys for software programs, more accurately called product keys or installation keys, are needed before you can install almost any popular software program.
Serial keys or key codes are often required during the first part of a program's installation or sometimes after using a program for a certain period of time.
So what do you do when you can't find that special installation code but you need to install the program again?
Where Can I Find Serial Keys and Installation Codes for My Software?
Without a doubt, a key finder program — a special kind of software tool — is the best way to go if you're lost a serial key for one of your software programs, so long as it's still installed or recently was.
Product key finder programs are software tools that automatically search your computer for the serial keys stored in the Windows Registry or elsewhere on your computer.
For example, when you installed your operating system and other software, the product keys used during their installations were stored, probably encrypted, inside a specific registry key.
See our article on free product key finder software programs for a ranked and reviewed collection of these very handy tools, all of which are free to download, install, and use.
Now, you could manually look in the registry for the serials and install keys yourself, but they can be very hard to find. Not only that, the stored keys are usually encrypted, making what you dig up there completely useless anyway.
Most product key finder programs were originally designed to find the serial numbers and key codes for operating systems like Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, etc., but many of them find serials and keys for many other programs, too, like office suites, video games, and more.
What If the Program I'm Missing the Serial Key for Isn't Installed Anymore?
Even if you think, or know, the program you've lost the key for isn't installed on your computer anymore, you should still try one of the higher-rated product key finder tools in our list.
Sometimes,a program will leave the registry keys that contain that program's serial key in the registry even after it's uninstalled, which is why this is worth a try. This isn't usually the case when the program was removed with a dedicated software uninstaller, but it's still worth a try.
If that doesn't work, you're left with digging around for the box the software came in, the email that accompanied the download, etc.
What If I Still Can't Find the Installation Code I'm After?
Unfortunately, at this point, your only legal option is to buy a new copy of the program.
In your search for help with lost serial keys, you've probably come across software cracking tools, keygen programs or maybe even lists of free key codes, there for the taking.
Find My License Key
It's very important to realize that none of those resources are legal ways of obtaining installation keys or any other unique code designed to protect programs from being pirated.
Find Windows 10 Cd Key
The only legal way of installing software is by using a valid installation code obtained through a legal purchase of the software program.