Add and Remove a Product Key

Before you can use a Multiple Activation Key (MAK), retail, or KMS Host key (CSVLK) product key, you must first add it to the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) database.

To Add a Product Key

In the left-side pane, right-click the Product Keys node to open the Actions menu.

Click Add product keys to open the Add Product Keys dialog box.

In the Add Product Keys dialog box, select from one of the following methods to add product keys:

• To add product keys manually, click Enter product key(s) separated by line breaks, enter one or more product keys separated by line breaks, and click Add Key(s).
• To import a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file containing a list of product keys, click Select a product key file to import, browse to the file location, click Open to import the file, and then click Add Key(s).

NoteВ В If you are activating a large number of products with a MAK, you should refresh the activation count of the MAK, to ensure that the MAK can support the required number of activations. In the product key list in the center pane, select the MAK and click Refresh product key data online in the right-side pane to contact Microsoft and retrieve the number of remaining activations for the MAK. This step requires Internet access. You can only retrieve the remaining activation count for MAKs.

Как удалить ключ активации в Windows 10?

В прошлой статье мы написали об активации Windows 10 по телефону.

Но иногда бывает нужно отдать (продать) ваш ПК, но при этом не хотите ему отдавать активированную и установленную на нем операционную систему Windows.

Нужна учетная запись с правами администратора.

Деактивировать Windows можно, но только в учетной записи с правами администратора.

1. Как удалить ключ?
2. Как проверить удаление ключа?

1. Откройте командную строку от имени администратора:
   1. Наводим курсор «Лупу»
   2. Вводим слово «cmd» на английском
   3. Жмём на «Правую кнопку» мыши
   4. Открыть от «Имени Администратора»

   

   

   

   

   После этих действий нужно перезагрузить ваш компьютер!

   Проверить полное удаление кода лицензии можно введя эту команду:

   How to deactivate and uninstall Windows Product Key

   Before you sell or dispose of your computer, you would probably back up your data and then format the drives. But there is something you must do if you wish to dispose of it without uninstalling the Windows operating system. After you back up your data, you should uninstall the Windows Product Key. In this tutorial, we will see how you can deactivate and uninstall the Windows Product Key. Although the screenshots I have used are from one of my Windows laptops, this applies to Windows 10/8 as well.

   We will have to make use of Windows Software Licensing Management Tool or slmgr.vbs, which is a command-line licensing tool. It is a Visual Basic script, used to manage and configure licensing in Windows OS.

   Uninstall Windows Product Key

   To begin with, you will need to know the Activation ID of your Windows installation. To view licensing status and Activation ID, open an elevated command prompt windows, type the following, and hit Enter:

   To get all the Activation IDs for all the installed version of Windows, you can use:

   The /dlv parameter will display detailed license information for the installed operating system. Specifying the all parameter displays all applicable installed products’ license information.

   You may click on any of the images to see the larger versions.

   You will see a Windows Script Host window open up giving you details about your Windows licensing and activation status. Here look for Activation ID and note it down.

   Now in the same command prompt window, type the following and hit Enter:

   Here upk stands for uninstall product key. The /upk parameter uninstalls the product key of the current Windows edition. After a restart, the system will be in an Unlicensed state unless a new product key is installed.

   If you entered it wrongly by mistake, you will see the following error message – Product key not found.

   If you entered it correctly you will see the message – Uninstalled product key successfully.

   Now if you check your Windows activation status in the Control Panel, you will see Not available.

   Once you have done this, you could sell or dispose off the laptop and use the Windows Product Key elsewhere, provided its licensing terms allow it. If it is a Retail key, you could do so, but if it is an OEM key, it would be tied to the machine.

   Re-install Windows Product Key

   In case you wish to reinstall this key , you can again take the help of slmgr . Type the following command in a Command Prompt (Admin) and hit Enter.

   The /ipk parameter will install a 5×5 product key. Here ipk stands for install product key. If the key is valid and applicable, the key is installed. If a key is already installed, it is silently replaced. If the key is invalid, an error is returned.

   Do note that now you have to use your genuine Windows Product Key or License. It is the 25 character Product Key or Software License that we have to use here. It is this serial that is required during installation/activation of Windows, and proves your ownership. If you did it correctly, you will see Installed product key successfully message.

   Now if you open your Control Panel you will see Windows is activated message.

   Additional parameters you may find useful:

   1. The /cpky option removes the product key from the registry to prevent this key from being stolen by malicious code.
   2. The /rearm option resets the activation timers.

   How to deactivate Windows 10 and change the product key

   Activation is a protection mechanism implemented in Windows 10 and earlier versions against piracy. It first appeared in Windows XP and exists with different changes and improvements in Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. When activation is successful, usually it indicates that your copy of Windows is genuine. There may be times when you need to deactivate your copy of Windows 10 in order to transfer your license to another PC. Here is how you can deactivate your copy of Windows 10.

   In this article, we will see how to deactivate Windows 10 by uninstalling the product key. Additionally, we will see how to install another product key instead.

   To deactivate Windows 10 by uninstalling the product key, you need to do the following:

   

2. Wait till the command finishes its work. At the end, you will see the following message:

Windows 10 will become deactivated. You can visit the Settings app and check out the «Activation» page and check the activation state. It will look like this:

After you deactivate Windows 10, you might be interested in clearing the product key from the Registry so it cannot be viewed with special apps and scripts.

Please keep in mind that if you reach the online activation limit, e.g. by activating many PCs with the same key, you may have to activate your copy of Windows by phone since the online activation will fail.

To install a new product key, you need to type the following command in the elevated command prompt:

We have a nice article which covers this process in detail: How to change Windows 10 product key.

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About Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer from Russia who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

11 thoughts on “ How to deactivate Windows 10 and change the product key ”

it showed me you havent the autorisation

hi the same thing happened to me until i ran cmd as an administrator

Hello,
I really appreciate your post and it is very insightful. However, i have an issue with my computer it keeps showing windows license will expire soon and it is activated with GVLK.
I have tried using all product key found on the internet it yielded no result as the problem still persist.

i don’t know how to solve this problem..please i need help with guidance.

Dear MS ,
How to deactivate-windows-10 key from my old PC.could you please share the process details to my mail with deactivate link ?

How can I see my old license key I want to uninstall from one computer? I need the old one because I’m trying to transfer it to a new computer.

Would deactivating my key enable me to install Windows 10 professional on the computer that I have the Key On?

Those methods on this page to de-activate / remove the windows 10 license, couldn’t remove the ‘ Digital license ‘ from the Pc, so it shows windows is digitally activated with a digital license but in the properties page shows windows is activated.
Please help me to remove this digital license. Thank you.

Those methods on this page to de-activate / remove the windows 10 license, couldn’t remove the ‘ Digital license ‘ from the Pc, so it shows windows is digitally activated with a digital license but in the properties page shows windows is not activated.
Please help me to remove this digital license. Thank you.

Same here. Even after using this method, it still shows that windows is activated

Remove Windows 10 product key from Registry and protect it from being stolen

When Windows 10 is installed, it continues to store your product key in the registry. This may be useful, if you don’t remember which key you used on your current installation. Also if you lost your product key, this can be useful for recovering your product key with some third party tool or with a simple PowerShell script.

But at the same time, your Windows 10 product key is at risk of being stolen. If you are concerned about your product key being stolen (i.e. with some malicious software), you might want to remove it from the registry permanently. This operation is safe and will not affect your OS activation status. Follow this simple tutorial to learn how you can erase the stored product key in Windows 10. The same trick should work in Windows 8.1, Windows 7 and Windows Vista too.

1. Open an elevated command prompt.
2. In the elevated command prompt you just opened, type the following:

Here is some explanation for those who want to understand what exactly happens. slmgr stands for Software Licensing Manager, it’s a Visual Basic script in your Windows\System32 folder to manage licensing related operations. The /cpky switch tells slmgr to clear the product key.

Bonus tip: Even if the product key is cleared, you can still view the partial product key should you ever need to know which key a particular Windows installation uses. To view the partial product key, at an elevated command prompt, type:

Look how it displays the partial product key. If you have a bunch of Windows licenses, this information is enough to identify which product key was used for this installation.

Note that if you installed a volume license edition of Windows, only the partial product key may be viewable by using slmgr /dli. slmgr /cpky is not required.

Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options:

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About Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer from Russia who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.