If you've purchased a new PC with Windows pre-installed in the past few years, you might have noticed a few changes on the outside of the device.
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The biggest change is the absence of a product key, which was included on the holographic Certificate of Authenticity (COA) sticker with PCs that came pre-installed with Windows 7 or earlier versions.
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. Here’s everything you need to know about how to find your Windows 10 product key and how activation works on free upgraded versus new retail copies of Windows 10. Whether you availed Microsoft’s free Windows 10 upgrade offer, which by the way was available only till July 29th of 2016, or got a new license for your PC off retail, online,. Windows 10 tip: Find your PC's original product key. If you've purchased a new PC with Windows pre-installed in the past few years, chances are it has a product key embedded in its BIOS.
Beginning with Windows 8, that information is no longer on a COA but is instead embedded in the BIOS. If you re-install the same version of Windows that came with your PC, it should activate automatically.
If you want to record that product key so that you can restore Windows later, it's easy enough to do. Open a PowerShell window and issue this command:
(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey
If you see no output, that means your system does not include the Windows key in the BIOS, as is often the case with home-built PCs, devices built by a System Builder OEM, or those that were originally sold with a Windows 10 license.
Network administrators who manage licensing using Key Management Services can get details about PCs on the network using a different set of options for the same PowerShell command. To view all details about a machine's current licensing status, use this command:
Get-WMIObject -Class SoftwareLicensingService | Select-Object -Property *
(Be sure to include the asterisk at the end of that command.)
To save the key, click in the PowerShell window, drag the mouse pointer across the entire 25-character key, and then right-click. Although nothing appears to happen, your selection has actually been copied to the Clipboard. Paste it into a text file and save it in a safe place.
Previous tip: Find out if your PC can run Hyper-V
Next week: Another Windows 10 tip from Ed Bott
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Enterprise Software Smart Office Productivity Innovation Start-Ups CloudLost your Windows 10 product key? The product key is essential if you need to reinstall Windows or transfer and activate Windows to another PC. Let’s see how to easily find Windows 10 product key using PowerShell, Command Prompt or third party product key finder software.
Serial Key For Windows 10 Enterprise
Method 1: Find Windows 10 Product Key Using PowerShell
Open a PowerShell window with administrative privileges, type the following command and hit Enter:$(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey
It will show you the product key of your Windows 10 OS. This method works on Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7 / Vista.
Find My Product Key For Windows 10
Method 2: Find Windows 10 Product Key Using Command Prompt
Finding Your Serial Key For Windows 10 1
Launch an elevated Command Prompt. In Windows 10, just press the Windows key + X to open the WinX menu and select “Command Prompt (Admin)“.
Type the following command and hit Enter. It will display your Windows 10 license key immediately.wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey
Method 3: Find Windows 10 Product Key with Third Party Software
The methods above are quite simple but they might don’t work in some cases, then you can take use of third party software to recover your Windows product key. KeyFinder Plus is a reliable and comprehensive tool that allows you to reveal the product keys for Windows, Office, SQL Server, Adobe and other softwares you might have installed.
After launching KeyFinder Plus, click on Start Recovery button and select “From current system“, it will display your Windows 10 retail/OEM license key stored in Windows registry or UEFI firmware.