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

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

Find your Windows 7/8 Product Key from computer before upgrading to Windows 10

If you are planting to upgrade your Windows 7/8 PC device to Windows 10, it is highly recommended you to find out the corresponding product keys and store them in a safe place. In case some day you need to reinstall them on your current or other computer again.

Where to find your Windows 7/8 product key?

On the bottom of your laptop: If you are using a laptop, look at the bottom of your laptop. Your Windows product key may be printed on the sticker.

On the side of desktop case: If you are using a desktop computer, look on the side of the desktop’s case. If the product key is not that, check the top, back, bottom, and the other place it might be.

On the Email: If you purchased Windows 7/8 online, you may find the activation key on the email that Microsoft sent you at the time of purchase.

In registry: Press «Windows +R» to open Run dialog, type in «regedit» and press Enter to open Registry Editor. And then find the DigitalProductID by this way: HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\windows NT\Currentversion.

As you can see in the picture above, the Product Key is in a binary format that can’t be read by humans. How to get the product key from registry?

Retrieve Windows 7/8 product key with VBScript

1. Open a Notepad, and paste the VBScript code to it.

Set WshShell = CreateObject(«WScript.Shell»)
MsgBox ConvertToKey(WshShell.RegRead(«HKLM\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId»))

Function ConvertToKey(Key)
Const KeyOffset = 52
i = 28
Chars = «BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789»
Do
Cur = 0
x = 14
Do
Cur = Cur * 256
Cur = Key(x + KeyOffset) + Cur
Key(x + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255
Cur = Cur Mod 24
x = x -1
Loop While x >= 0
i = i -1
KeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & KeyOutput
If (((29 — i) Mod 6) = 0) And (i <> -1) Then
i = i -1
KeyOutput = «-» & KeyOutput
End If
Loop While i >= 0
ConvertToKey = KeyOutput
End Function

2. Click on File в†’ Save As , on the right side of Save as type select All Files , on the right side of File name enter «productkeyfinder.vbs» , and press Enter to save it as .vbs file.

3. Double click on the productkeyfinder.vbs file, then you can see Windows product key on the popup dialog box.

Recover Windows 7/8 product key from computer with a tool

If you can’t find your product keys with the methods mentioned above, here is another efficient and easy way: use the product key finder software – Product Key Tuner, which also can help you to find out the product keys for your Office, Adobe Dreamweaver/Photoshop, SQL Server, and other tools installed on your computer.

1. Get Cocosenor Product Key Tuner tool, and install it on your computer.

3. Click on Start Recovery button. In a soon, all the product keys for your Windows, Office, and other products, are showed on the dialog.

Узнать ключ активации Windows

Технический уровень : Средний

Для активации windows используется 25-значный код (ключ) формата (XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX). Чтобы узнать какой ключ использовался для активации системы, или появилась необходимость в переустановки системы, а ключ на наклейке стерся, можно воспользоваться данным VBS скриптом.

*Внимание! Данная статья относится к Windows 7/8/8.1 и не подходит для Windows 10.

Создайте Текстовый документ.

Скопируйте в него текст скрипта.

Set WshShell = CreateObject ( «WScript.Shell» )

regKey = «HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\»

DigitalProductId = WshShell.RegRead(regKey & «DigitalProductId» )

Win8ProductName = «Windows Product Name: » & WshShell.RegRead(regKey & «ProductName» ) & vbNewLine

Win8ProductID = «Windows Product ID: » & WshShell.RegRead(regKey & «ProductID» ) & vbNewLine

strProductKey = «Windows Key: » & Win8ProductKey

Win8ProductID = Win8ProductName & Win8ProductID & strProductKey

Function ConvertToKey(regKey)

Const KeyOffset = 52

isWin8 = (regKey(66) \ 6) And 1

regKey(66) = (regKey(66) And &HF7) Or ((isWin8 And 2) * 4)

Do

Do

Cur = regKey(y + KeyOffset) + Cur

regKey(y + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24)

Cur = Cur Mod 24

Loop While y >= 0

winKeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & winKeyOutput

Loop While j >= 0

If (isWin8 = 1) Then

keypart1 = Mid(winKeyOutput, 2, Last)

winKeyOutput = Replace(winKeyOutput, keypart1, keypart1 & insert, 2, 1, 0)

If Last = 0 Then winKeyOutput = insert & winKeyOutput

End If

a = Mid(winKeyOutput, 1, 5)

b = Mid(winKeyOutput, 6, 5)

c = Mid(winKeyOutput, 11, 5)

d = Mid(winKeyOutput, 16, 5)

e = Mid(winKeyOutput, 21, 5)

ConvertToKey = a & «-» & b & «-» & c & «-» & d & «-» & e

End Function

Нажмите Файл – Сохранить как:

Выберите Тип файлов: Все файлы. Задайте любое имя файла, но обязательно укажите расширение . VBS . Нажмите Сохранить.

При нажатии на сохраненный файл откроется окно с ключом активации windows .

How to recover your Windows product key

Technical Level : Basic

If you are planning to reinstall Windows but you can’t find your product key, this article will show you where and how you can find your product key.

The key could be:

• Printed on a Certificate of Authenticity sticker
• Stored in the Windows Registry
• Embedded in the PC’s UEFI firmware

Note that if you are currently running Windows 10 and wish to reinstall the operating system, you don’t need your product key. After the reinstall, Windows 10 will detect that it has been reinstalled on a previously activated system and will automatically reactivate.

Printed on a Certificate of Authenticity Sticker

If your PC came with Windows 7 or earlier, then your product key will be printed on a COA sticker. This sticker verifies that the computer came with a genuine copy of Windows. You will need to examine your computer to find the sticker. On laptops, it’s usually on the bottom side. On desktops, it could be on the back, sides, or top. It looks something like this:

Embedded in the PC’s UEFI firmware

If you have a newer PC that came with Windows 8 or Windows 10, then your product key likely won’t be on a sticker. Instead, computer manufacturers now embed the key right into the computer’s UEFI firmware. Unlike the COA sticker, the embedded key can’t be smudged off, stolen or erased (easily).

If you want to extract the UEFI key, the process is simple. Open the Start menu, type powershell and then run the program.

Next type the following command in the PowerShell window and hit Enter.

You will be presented with the key in the window.

Stored in the Windows Registry

If your product key isn’t embedded in the firmware or you’re missing your COA sticker, you’re not out of luck as long as you haven’t formatted your computer. You can still recover the key because Windows stores it in the registry. Here is how:

1. Open a new Notepad window

2. Copy and paste the following text into the window

3. Click File > Save As and save the file to your desktop as productkey.vbs. It’s important to include the .vbs extension because this is a Windows Scripting Host file.

4. Close Notepad and double-click the file. Wait a few seconds, and then you will be presented with a popup displaying your product key: