Find your Windows product key

A Windows product key is a 25-character code used to activate Windows. It looks like this:

PRODUCT KEY: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Locate your product key for Windows 10

Depending on how you got your copy of Windows 10, you’ll need either a 25-character product key or a digital license to activate it. A digital license (called a digital entitlement in Windows 10, Version 1511) is a method of activation in Windows 10 that doesn’t require you to enter a product key. Without one of these, you won’t be able to activate your device.

Where to find your product key depends on how you got your copy of Windows.

Select any of the following to see more information:

The product key is preinstalled on your PC, included with the packaging the PC came in, or included on the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) attached to the PC. For more info, contact your hardware manufacturer, and for pictures of authentic product keys and COA labels, see How to tell your hardware is genuine.

The product key is on a label or card inside the box that Windows came in. For more info, contact the retailer that sold you Windows 10. How to tell your software is genuine.

Find your product key in the confirmation email you received after buying Windows 10 or in a digital locker accessible through the retailer’s website.

The product key is in the confirmation email you received after buying your digital copy of Windows. Microsoft only keeps a record of product keys if you purchased from the Microsoft online store. You can find out if you purchased from Microsoft in your Microsoft account Order history.

If you upgraded to Windows 10 for free from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you should have a digital license instead of a product key.

If you bought Windows 10 Home, Professional, or Upgrade to Pro in the Windows 10 Store app, you’ll receive a digital license instead of a product key. You can use the digital license for activation.

If your product key is scratched, blurred, or otherwise unusable, contact the retailer who sold you the product. If you aren’t able to get help from your retailer or have already tried and couldn’t get a working key, call Microsoft Support.

For more information about digital licenses and product keys in Windows 10, see the “Methods of Activation” section in Activate Windows 10.

Locate your product key for Windows 7 or Windows 8.1

A product key is usually required when uninstalling or reinstalling Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Generally, if you bought a physical copy of Windows, the product key should be on a label or card inside the box that Windows came in. If Windows came preinstalled on your PC, the product key should appear on a sticker on your device. If you’ve lost or can’t find the product key, contact the manufacturer. To ensure your product key is genuine, see How to tell your software is genuine and How to tell your hardware is genuine.

Related links

For info about how to tell if your copy of Windows is genuine Microsoft software, see the How to tell page.

For more Windows 10 download info, see Download Windows 10.

If you need installation media to install or reinstall Windows, see Create installation media for Windows to learn how to create your own installation media using either a USB flash drive or a DVD.

If you need more help with activation, see Activate Windows 10.

If you’re getting an activation error, see Get help with Windows activation errors.

If you’re reinstalling Windows 10, you might not need a Windows product key. See Activation in Windows 10 for more info.

If you’re reinstalling Windows 10 due to a motherboard problem or some other hardware issue, see Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change.

If you’re looking for product keys for Office, apps, games, and more, see Find your Microsoft downloads and product keys

How to check if the Windows Key is Genuine or Legit

A copy of Windows is genuine only if it has been activated using a valid key. When you buy Windows Keys from Microsoft websites or get them from the OEMs, you can be sure that they are genuine. But you need to be careful if you buy them from third-party websites. So are Windows 10 keys that you buy from another site like Amazon, etc., legitimate or legal? That depends!

The major problem why many consumers get a license – which is sold at a very low price – and which later turns out to be invalid is because they may be deactivated product keys or Volume license keys. In this post, we will suggest a couple of ways to check if your Windows Product Licence Key is Genuine or Legit.

How to check if my Windows Key is Genuine

There are different types of keys. Windows 10 keys that consumer buys directly, are usually valid until the life of the machine (Retail and OEM).

There is one more type of key: Volume Licensing (MAK and KMS). Enterprise or big companies buy these keys to activate computers in bulk.

I have seen reports where many third-party sellers have sold these keys to consumers at a cheap price. These keys can be activated on multiple computers or work for a couple of months.

It is best not to purchase a key from someone who is not authorized to sell Windows 10 keys. And if somebody is authorized, and they offering low price, make sure to ask them if the key will work even after reinstallation.

There are two scenarios-

1. First where you have the key, and you want to check before actually using it.
2. Second is when you have already used it, but still, want to check.

Let’s take a look at how you can find if your Windows Key is genuine.

1] Use PID checker tools

We have two tools here – The Ultimate PID Checker and Microsoft PID Checker – which you can use to find out if the Windows 10 key is legit. While the Ultimate PID checker works for all versions before Windows 10, the Microsoft PID checker works for Windows 10 and Server 2016 only.

Download Microsoft PID Checker from here or Ultimate PID Checker from here. If the key is not legit or is invalid, the software will give you a response back. It can also be used to check the MAK count.

2] Check Windows Key with Software Licensing User Interface

The “dli” parameter will display current license information with activation status.

The result will also include the type of key (Retail, OEM, MAK, or KMS key). If the License status says “Licensed”, then you do not have a problem. If there is anything else, your key is not valid. Also if you see type as MAK or KMS, and you are a general consumer, you need to connect with the person from whom you bought the key, and get a Retail key.

3] Check Settings & Activation Status

There are few quick ways to check if the key you have used in not legit. The first thing you should is open Settings, and see if there is any warning about activation. If that’s not there, go to Update & Security > Activation and check the status. If there is an error and it doesn’t say that Windows is activated, you have a problem. In short the Windows 10 keys not legit or legal.

Report Windows 10 Activation errors

If your Windows 10 is genuine, but you still receive errors relating to an ingenuine software, you can follow up by using the steps below.

• Open Administrator command prompt then paste the code below and hit Enter

• Copy the result and upload to One Drive, then locate the txt file Windows created on your desktop then upload both to One Drive
• Go to the Microsoft Product Activation Call Center and lay your report.

Let us know if this helped you to figure out if the Windows 10 key is genuine or not.

Date: February 26, 2019 Tags: Genuine, Licensing

How To Check Product Key Version & Edition In Windows

Last Updated on February 25, 2020 by admin 3 Comments

A few days ago, I happened to come across an interesting question while browsing Microsoft support forums. A PC user wanted to know the edition and version of Windows a product key belongs to so that he can download and install the right version and edition of Windows on his PC.

Let us assume that you have a bunch of Windows product keys, but you are not sure the version and edition they belong to. Although it’s possible to try them on virtual or physical machines, the approach doesn’t make sense when you have a bunch of keys, and especially if you are not sure if they belong to Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.

That said, if you know that a particular key is for Windows 10, then you can determine the edition of Windows 10 the key belongs to by entering it on a PC running Windows 10 as there are only two editions: Home and Pro. Once the job is done, you can uninstall and deactivate the key if you wish to do so.

Luckily, there are a couple of ways out there to easily determine the version and edition of Windows a product key belongs to. You can use one of the given below utilities to check the version and edition of Windows you can activate using the product key.

ShowKeyPlus to check Windows 10 edition a product key belongs to

ShowKeyPlus is a free software designed to retrieve the product key from registry, BIOS/UEFI, and Windows.old folder. In addition to that, the tool can be used to check the version and edition of Windows a product key belongs to.

Here is how to use the ShowKeyPlus software:

Step 1: Visit this page, download the latest available version, extract the zip file to get ShowKeyPlus.exe file, and then run ShowKeyPlus.exe with admin rights.

Step 2: Once launched, click the option labeled Check product key.

Step 3: Enter or paste the product key that you want to know the version and edition of Windows the product key belongs to. The version and edition of Windows operating will be displayed just below the product key field.

Ultimate PID Checker to check the edition of Windows 10 product key

Ultimate PID Checker is another free tool out there to determine the version and edition of Windows a product key belongs to.

Ultimate PID is not as superior as ShowKeyPlus, as Ultimate PID Checker requires you select a version of Windows to know the edition, unlike ShowKeyPlus, which easily displays both the version and edition upon entering a product key. That is, with Ultimate PID Checker, you might need to do trial and error to know the version of the Windows operating system a product key belongs to.

Step 1: Download Ultimate PID Checker from here, extract the RAR file either using 7-Zip or WinRAR and then run the executable.

Step 2: Select the version of the Windows operating system that you believe the product key belongs to, enter the product key, and then click the Go button to know the edition of the product key.

If the product key entered doesn’t belong to the selected version of Windows, you will not see the edition it belongs to. In that case, select another version of Windows, and then click the Go button again.

Related Articles

Comments

Okay, I get that part, sort of. I went to this site and ran the .vbs script. The Key that appears is apparently invalid when using ShowKeyPlus:

What I was hoping to find with ShowKeyPlus was the Windows 7 key which would have been in Windows.old. Naturally, when I upgraded, I ran into odd/ends problems and went with a clean install after the upgrade. Of course, this left not Windows.old from the Windows 7 upgrade, but Windows.old from the Windows 10 install. Retrieving the Product Key from Windows.old in my case only resulted in the same generic key.

So, back to the Macrium Reflect disc image I made before any upgrade; I was able to mount the disc image on Windows 10 November, go to the Windows/System 32/Config section as one would do by going to Windows.old and retrieve the Windows 7 Product Key with ShowKeyPlus. The program did provide an valid, authenticate key for Windows 7. Other products may work, but I rather doubt it, and this is an odd scenario.

So with the Windows 7 Product Key intact, it is possible to clean install on any computer as long as I have the Windows 10.iso on USB or DVD? Or something random I would have to try? Or just install Windows 7 and start over.

The reason I ask: Windows 10 isn’t free if I am giving away a perfectly valid Windows 7 key in order to receive a generic Windows 10 key hard coded into the BIOS. As a consumer, it’s actually pointless to upgrade and say to MS, “Here’s my old key and OS; let me have the new one.” Nothing is “free” in the exchange; it’s a simple trade in. Yes?

@ Jasray
You have the same product key as mine because you upgraded from Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10 using the free upgrade. All users who upgraded to Windows 10 for free have the same generic key.

Don’t get it–have the same Product Key as shown.

How to check Windows 10 Product Key on your computer

Wanting to do a clean install of Windows 10 on your PC device? If your device is installed with Windows 10 or upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, you may need to find out your Windows 10 activation key from your computer before reinstalling system. In case you are required to enter the product key to activate your Windows 10 system again after the installation.

Where can you find Windows 10 product key from your Computer?

Printed on a sticker:

Retail Microsoft product keys are usually on a brand sticker located inside the case with the CD/DVD, or on the back. If you bought a computer installed with Windows 10, you may find the serial key on the Microsoft-branded sticker on your PC case.

Sent with Email:

If you purchased Windows 10 online, you may find the license key is included in an email that Microsoft sent you at the time of purchase.

Stored on Windows Registry:

To view your Windows 10 product key in the Windows Registry: Press «Windows + R» to open Run , enter «regedit» to open Registry Editor.

Find the DigitalProductID by this way: HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\windows NT\Currentversion .

You will find the DigitalProductID in registry, but you can’t read it normally without a third party help.

Stored in PC’s UEFI firmware:

The activation key for the version of Windows 10 is stored in the computer’s UEFI firmware or BIOS. When you install or reinstall the same edition of Windows 10 (Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Enterprise, or Windows 10 Home) on a same computer, you do not need to enter the product key to activate it in a normal way. It will be activated automatically without entering product key after the installation.

Recover your Windows 10 Product key instantly with a Product Key Tuner

If you want to install Windows 10 on another PC device with the license key from your old Computer, but you have forgotten or lost it, you can use a Product Key Tuner to recover it instantly.

1. Start the Product Key Tuner program by this way:

1.1 Download a Cocosenor Product Key Tuner application from the official site.

1.2 Double-click on the cocosenor-product-key-tuner.exe file, click on Next to install it, and select to Start it now .

2. Click on Start Recovery button to check your Windows 10 product key on the old computer.

3. In a minute, the product name, product key, product ID on your computer will be showed for you. You can get your Windows 10 product key and product ID easily on the list.

Check Windows 10 product key with VBscript

If you are an advanced user, you also can use the VBscript to read the value from the registry and translate it to 25 alphanumeric characters (serial key).

1. Open a Notepad.

2. Type the following VBscript to the Notepad.

3. Save the file as .vbs file.

Click on File , click on Save As , and select the location where is easy for you to find.