Hello admin, tell me how to find out the Windows key, if it is not on the back of the laptop and this is the case on all new laptops.
When buying a laptop, the store told me that I didn’t need a Windows key, since I didn’t need to enter it anywhere. I have some kind of Windows 8 Single Language 64-bit Russian Region- (OEM) installed, and I’m also not supposed to have a disk from it. If Windows crashes, you can run the factory reset program and that’s it.
I also learned that if I want to install another Windows on my laptop, it’s unlikely to work and reinstalling the existing one myself won’t work either. And another important point - if I accidentally delete the hidden partition with factory settings during my experiments with reinstallations, then the laptop will be restored to me not under warranty, but for a couple of thousand rubles.
So I’m sitting and thinking, I paid 30 thousand rubles for the laptop, but it’s like it’s not mine. Find out the Windows key I can’t, I can’t install another operating system, they don’t give me a disk with Windows and drivers anymore, in short, use it for your health. It's all strange though! Gosh.
How to find out the Windows key
Hello friends! With a new laptop, you can do whatever you want and of course you can find out the key of Windows installed on it, but you need to do all this with skill. The sellers can also be understood, since many buyers, on the very first day of using a laptop, destroy everything with a hairdryer, and then, having played enough with ancient operating systems, they try to restore what they had, many do not succeed and they come to where the laptop was purchased and demand everything restored under warranty.
Therefore, before your experiments, insure yourself with modern data backup tools. You can back up all partitions of your hard drive to DVDs or a portable USB hard drive. You can learn how to create a backup of the entire laptop hard drive or just the operating system from our articles.
Note: Windows 8 Single Language 64-bit Russian Region (OEM) installed on your laptop is a normal basic Windows 8, but only with support for one Russian language. No, you can type in English, but the system control interface will always be Russian. Windows 8 Single Language (OEM) can be transferred to another computer and even upgraded to Windows Pro 8. If you want to reinstall the operating system on your laptop, then you can do it approximately like this - or like this -.
I will give two of the easiest ways to find out the Windows key. We will use the services of the ProduKey program and then AIDA64.
ProduKey software works quickly and without installation. You can download it on the official website
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html#DownloadLinks
Click "Download links are on the bottom of this page"
If you have a 64-bit operating system, select "Download ProduKey for x64"
Below on the same page you can download the Russifier.
The program is downloaded in an archive, unzip the archive and run the ProduKey.exe file. In addition to the Windows key, you will find out all the keys for programs owned by Microsoft.
Find out the Windows key using the AIDA64 program
Let's go to the website of the developer of the AIDA64 program http://www.aida64.com/, click on the Download button.
Manufacturers of modern laptops and computers are actively abandoning disk drives, since any program or game can be downloaded from the Internet, and the presence of a drive only makes the PC more expensive for the end buyer. At the same time, users who are accustomed to receiving a disk with Windows and a license key included with their computer find it difficult to reinstall the operating system. While Windows itself can be installed from a flash drive, you will still need a license key for it. In this case, users have a question: how to find out the Windows product key that was preinstalled on a laptop (desktop computer), or was installed later from a disk that is not currently available? This can be done using both Windows and third-party programs.
When asking yourself the question of determining the license key of the operating system running on your computer, you should understand such concepts as Installed Key and OEM Key. Essentially, they are both Windows license keys, but there are some differences between them. The way they are determined also differs.
Installed Key is the installation key of the operating system running on the computer. It can be detected on those laptops and desktop computers on which Windows was installed by users themselves from a disk or as a digital copy purchased via the Internet and activated.
The OEM Key is the license key for the version of Windows that was originally installed on the computer. The OEM key information is hardwired into the motherboard of your laptop or desktop computer and cannot be changed.
Thus, if the computer was installed with the Windows 8 operating system at the time of purchase, which was later updated to Windows 10, the information about the OEM and Installed keys will be different. At the same time, if you want to install Windows 8 on a new computer, you will need to enter the OEM key - only it will work with this version of the operating system. Installed Key is suitable if you want to install Windows 10.
Attention: You can use the existing OEM or Installed key only for the version of the operating system that is installed on the computer. You cannot enter the key for the Basic version of Windows 10 for the Professional build.
How to find out the Windows 10 key using the operating system?
On any computer, with administrator rights, you can find out the Windows 10 license key without third-party programs and applications. However, the procedures are different in the case of determining OEM and Installed keys.
Finding out the license key of the operating system that is “hardwired” into the computer’s motherboard is very simple if you know the command that is specifically provided for this in Windows 10. To determine the OEM key, do the following:
The OEM-issued key can be used to reinstall the version of the operating system that was originally installed on the computer.
Using one command, it is not possible to determine the Installed Key, and it is hidden a little deeper in the Windows operating system. But if you wish, you can get information about the Windows license key without installing third-party applications on your computer. To do this you need to do the following:
- Launch an empty standard Windows Notepad, which can be found at the following path: “Start” - “All Applications” - “Windows Accessories” - “Notepad”.
- Copy the following code into an open text editor program:
Please note that the Installed Key is displayed in the “Product Key” item. Also, following the steps described above allows you to find out some details about the operating system used on the computer.
How to find out Windows keys using third-party programs?
From the instructions above you can see that finding out the OEM Key Windows is very simple, but “getting” to the Installed Key is much more difficult, and the procedure for detecting it using Windows tools takes a lot of time. If you don’t want to do this, you can install a third-party application that will independently detect information about the OEM Key and Installed Key on the computer, and then give it to the PC administrator.
ShowKeyPlus is considered one of the simplest and most convenient programs for determining the Windows key. It can be downloaded from the official website of the developers absolutely free. At the same time, the program not only shows information about the license keys of the version of Windows used, but also allows users to save the received information in a txt document. 
Many people are prompted to read this material by a very standard and common situation: you once bought a laptop with a licensed Windows 7 or 8 operating system installed. After a certain time, due to the need to reinstall Windows or for any other reason, you need the activation key that was indicated on the sticker , which is located on the bottom of the laptop, but over the months and years of use of the laptop, it has long been worn out or completely peeled off. What should I do?
If your PC is running Windows with an activated license key, then “getting” it from the operating system will not be difficult. If by icon My computer right click and open Properties, then below we will only see code of product, and not the activation key itself. It is also important to distinguish between what you need to get - just the code that was indicated on a special sticker or the code for Windows 8, which is in the computer's BIOS.
Screenshot of My Computer properties
For Win8 from BIOS using RWEverything
To extract the OEM license key Windows 8 From the BIOS of a laptop or desktop computer, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with it - in it we looked at how to use a program to get a key for Win8 from a new type of BIOS: UEFI. This method is also relevant for those who are trying to recover the key if another OS was installed instead of the licensed Windows 8 “from the store”.
Screenshot of the RWEverything program
Windows activation key in AIDA64
If you need an activation key for an installed and working system, you can use the program we are already familiar with to fully diagnose your PC - go ahead, get acquainted, download and install. Then run the program and open the tab operating system. In chapter License information in field Product Key and the required Windows activation code will be indicated.
Screenshot of the AIDA64 program
In AIDA64, as in RWEverything, you can see the key hardcoded into the BIOS. To do this, go to the tab Motherboard, then ACPI. In chapter Description of the table we'll find MSDM and in the field SLS Data The 25-character Windows activation code we need will be written.
AIDA64 screen
Finding an activation key via KeyFinder
A simple utility from Magical Jelly Bean. This small program does not take up much space and provides only the bare minimum of information, but that is exactly what we need. You can download KeyFinder from here (the official website of the developers), it is available in two versions - the free one is enough for us. Download, install, launch. In the left window, select the software for which you need to find out the activation key - in this case we are interested in Windows 7 Home Premium. CD Key and there is the required code.
Screenshot of KeyFinder
Instead of a conclusion
This list could be continued endlessly, since there are at least a dozen more popular utilities for solving the same problem, but I believe that the set provided will be enough for you. There are also various scripts on the Internet that use VBScript or PowerShell to extract keys without installing unnecessary programs. Everyone chooses the method that is more convenient for them.
To activate the Windows operating system, a special product license key is used. The Windows product key intended to activate the system differs depending on the version of the operating system (Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, etc.), OS edition (Home, Pro, etc.), distribution method (OEM, Retail etc).
To activate the Windows operating system, a product key is used, consisting of 25 characters in the form of numbers and capital (upper case) English letters, divided into 5 groups of 5 characters: “XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX”.
Laptops used to often have a Windows activation key stuck to it. Currently, laptop manufacturers with pre-installed operating systems embed the product key into the BIOS to automatically activate Windows.
If the system is reinstalled, or for some other reason (for example, activation failed after a hardware failure), the user may need a Windows product key. How to find out your Windows activation key?
You can find out the license key of installed Windows by running a special VBS script, as well as using five programs: ProduKey, ShowKeyPlus, Free PC Audit, Speccy, AIDA64, SIW. All listed programs are free, except AIDA64 and SIW.
The script with the extension “.vbs” and portable free programs (ProduKey, ShowKeyPlus, Free PC Audit) can be downloaded from here. Download the rest of the programs to your computer from the official websites of the manufacturers.
Using these methods, you can find out the key for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10. After you have found out the Windows product key, save the received data for later use, in case of reinstalling the operating system, to activate the operating system.
The free ProduKey program from the well-known manufacturer NirSoft does not require installation on your computer. The application shows keys for Windows OS, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office.
Unpack the archive with the program, and then run the “Application” file from the folder. After launch, the ProduKey utility window will display the key for the installed operating system.
Select the entry with the key for Windows 10, or another operating system, and then select “Copy Product Key” from the context menu to copy the activation key to the clipboard.
The free ShowKeyPlus program does not require installation on your computer. After launch, in the application window you will see the following information:
- Product Name - the operating system currently installed on the computer
- Product ID - product code
- Installed Key - the key of the operating system currently installed on the computer
- OEM Key - a key embedded in the BIOS of the laptop with the originally installed operating system
To save the data, click on the “Save” button, and then save the received information in a text format file.
The free program Free PC Audit will help you find out the key of your installed Windows. This program does not require installation on your computer. Run the utility file, after which the Free PC Audit program window will open, in which the system scan will begin.
After the scan is completed, in the “System” tab, opposite the “Windows product key” item, you will see the product key of the installed Windows operating system.
To copy the key, select the line with the license key, and then using the “Copy” context menu item, or using the “Ctrl” + “C” keys, copy the Windows product key from the utility window.
How to find out Windows 8 key using VBScrit
Activation keys for the Windows operating system are stored on the hard drive in encrypted form. Executing the VBScrit script will allow you to obtain the product key of the installed operating system in decrypted form. This script was developed for the Windows 8 operating system, but this code also works fine in the Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 operating systems.
To perform the operation, double-click on the “WindowsKey.vbs” file. In the window that opens, you will see the Windows activation code. Next, click on the “OK” button.
The next window will display information about the operating system version, product ID and product key number. Ignore the title of the entry "Windows 8 Key". The name of this OS will be displayed on any version of the Windows operating system.
Free Speccy program from the well-known company Piriform, manufacturer of CCleaner and other software. You can download the portable version of Speccy from the official website. There is a paid version of the program with advanced features.
The program provides the user with detailed information about the computer hardware, and using the application you can also find out the license key of the installed Windows.
Launch the Speccy program, in the “Operating System” section the version of the installed operating system and its serial number (activation key) will be displayed.
AIDA64 is a powerful program for obtaining all kinds of information about computer software and hardware.
After launching the AIDA64 program, license information, including the Windows product key, will be displayed in the “Menu” tab, in the “Operating System” section.
Select the product key, select “Copy” in the context menu, then paste the key into Notepad or another similar program to save.
S.I.W.
SIW (System Information of Windows) is a program for obtaining information about the hardware and software status of a computer.
After launching SIW, go to the “Programs”, “Licenses” section. Information about the product key used in the Windows operating system installed on the computer will be displayed here.
Incorrect product key
When checking keys using the methods listed above, the Windows product key may appear as follows: “BBBBB-BBBBB-BBBBB-BBBBB-BBBBB”.
This means that your computer is activated with a corporate MAK or VLK key. The Windows operating system does not save such keys, so programs do not see them.
Windows 10 uses a new system authentication method (not available for all cases on Windows 10). The activation record is stored on Microsoft servers and is not visible on your computer. After reinstallation, Windows activates itself for some time.
Maintaining the license depends on changing the computer hardware configuration. If the motherboard is replaced, Microsoft activation servers will revoke the license for that computer. Windows will prompt you to purchase a new product key.
Conclusion
If necessary, the user can find out the license code of the Windows operating system by running a VBS script, or using specialized programs: ProduKey, ShowKeyPlus, Free PC Audit, Speccy, AIDA64, SIW.
So, it happened that I had to reinstall windows (the hdd, bsod, other problems were dying...) and next to the problem there was a desire to transfer the honestly purchased license. But here’s the problem: the sticker was erased, the recording was not preserved, but why should I care? It still worked! There is a way out, but with Windows 8 , 8.1 And 10 It’s even simpler, the key is hardcoded into the bios. Microsoft uses a 25-digit code, which is what we need. I’ll tell you about three relatively simple ways to find out the product key: software, using a script and hardwired into the BIOS, let’s go:
ProduKey, a time-tested program, shows keys for Windows, MS-Office, SQL Server. Just download and run the .exe file from the archive and in a couple of seconds you’re done.
Using this utility, you can not only view the key on the installed system, but also, for example, from an external device (external drive, USB flash drive) or connect a drive with a second system. It happens that Windows does not start due to disk damage or a blue screen is to blame, and you need to find out the key, then Product KeyFinder perfect solution.
Download and install. Run as administrator.
Click tab Tools, and then Load Hive…
Select the Windows folder on the external device and press Enter. After a few seconds of scanning, we get the system version and the key for installing clean Windows on a new disk.
2. Using a script
The method is for seekers, it is a little more complicated, but more interesting.
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 Win8ProductKey = ConvertToKey(DigitalProductId) strProductKey ="Windows 8 Key: " & Win8ProductKey Win8ProductID = Win8ProductName & Win8ProductID & strProductKey MsgBox(Win8ProductKey) MsgBox(Win8ProductID) Function ConvertToKey(regKey) Const KeyOffset = 52 isWin8 = (regKey(66) \ 6) And 1 regKey(66) = (regKey(66) And &HF7) Or ((isWin8 And 2) * 4) j = 24 Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789" Do Cur = 0 y = 14 Do Cur = Cur * 256 Cur = regKey(y + KeyOffset) + Cur regKey(y + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) Cur = Cur Mod 24 y = y -1 Loop While y >= 0 j = j -1 winKeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & winKeyOutput Last = Cur Loop While j >= 0 If (isWin8 = 1) Then keypart1 = Mid(winKeyOutput, 2, Last) insert = "N" 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
Create a regular text document .txt open and paste this text there:
Change the file extension from .txt on .vbs and run the script, after a couple of seconds we see the key. If you are too lazy to do the manipulations, download the ready-made script.
3. Remove the key from the Bios (bios)
This method is really hardcore, it will help you find out the key for all windows hardcoded into the bios. In the latest versions of computers with pre-installed Windows 8, 8.1, 10, there is no sticker with the key, of course you can find it out using the methods listed above, but what to do if another version or Linux, for example, was installed on top? The key is saved in the bios chip and on the one hand this is great, you won’t lose it and if you want to find it, use RWeverything. Download the utility according to your system version (32 bit or 64 bit). You need to download it, unpack it (winrar, winzip), install it and run it. Then:
- Click on the ACPI button.
- Select the MSDM tab.
- In the bottom Data line will there be a Windows key hardwired into your BIOS? copy it and use it for its intended purpose
Conclusion: if you had to find and recover the key, be sure to write it down in a safe place. The license is important, you paid for it.
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A new working way to remove the key, including if the system does not start.
I found this method on the Internet and checked that it works even in the latest build Windows 10.0.14393 It is, of course, somewhat complicated for the average user, but sometimes the cost of a lost license makes us purposeful, especially since the instructions themselves are detailed and understandable. Yes, it’s in English, but who among us doesn’t use a translator in Chrome? So, be careful and follow the instructions, if you do everything correctly, at the end you will decrypt the binary code and get the product key, this field looks like this.