Checking windows keys from windows. How to find your Windows or Office product key

Lost product key (CD Key / activation code / serial number) is always an unpleasant problem. In such cases, you usually have to contact the developers or even spend money on purchasing new version programs. Well, the most common option is that the “key” on the Windows license sticker has been erased (which the author has encountered). What should you do if you don’t want to pay, but you need an activation code right now? The application is not fully functional and needs to be reinstalled? Fortunately, there is a whole class of free utilities for restoring serial numbers, the most famous of which are Windows Product Key Finder Pro And Keyfinder, about which below.

So, let's say you "lost" the key to a honestly purchased Windows or office suite Microsoft Office. In order to recognize it and save it at least in txt-file, one required important condition: you need to “fish out” before uninstalling (removing) non-working software or formatting hard drive, because all keys are stored in encrypted form in system registry and will be irretrievably lost. Therefore, after reading the article, without delay, check the software stickers and, if they are damaged, restore and save them necessary information, for example, on a flash drive.

Windows Product Key Finder Professional

This utility is simple and understandable even without special knowledge in English. After installation, in open window program you will see decrypted activation codes for Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7 / 8 and, if available, MS Office XP / 2003 / 2007 / 2010 / 2013. It is not necessary to look for paper and pen, using the " buttons Save" And " Print"keys are instantly copied to text file or printed.

Free download from the official website Windows Product Key Finder .

Warning!

Despite all the "advantages", the program noticeably litters the system registry, so the best option- below.

Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder

Perhaps the most advanced free key search engine in terms of capabilities is Keyfinder from developers from sunny Cyprus. From the link below I recommend downloading a registry-safe one portable version a program that, when opened, will show all hidden “serials” in the right half of the window. It will also help restore registration data (username, product ID) and export information to a file TXT format/ CSV or on paper (see top panel "File"). By the way, the number of supported products, except Windows lines and Microsoft Office - more than 300!

Download Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder(distribution + portable-version).

Note: B Windows packages and the Office product key is a 25-character sequence of the form XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. They can only activate the edition (version) of the software that is indicated on the license sticker, i.e. You cannot activate Windows 7 Professional using the Windows 7 Home key. Besides:

Retail - activated by key Retail-a copy of the application on any, but only one computer. Retail-the key in the form of a sticker can be carefully attached to the system unit or laptop.
OEM -key is used to activate one OEM-copies on the same PC on which it was first activated. OEM-sticker ( Certificate of Authenticity) is already glued to the body by the manufacturer.

Actually, that’s all, I’m sure that you also successfully dealt with the copies and stickers.

Dmitriy dmitry_spb Evdokimov

Have you ever lost your keys? A strange question, of course, but meanwhile, if you somehow “lost” the key Windows activation, this means you have lost your license, and therefore the money you paid for it. In addition, to prove the legality using Windows Without an activation key it is not possible.
However, there is good news. You can find out the key yourself. Even if it is lost, it can be restored. Now we'll tell you how to do this. So, in order.

What is a Windows activation key?

Windows activation key, or else - license key This is one of the tools used to license the Microsoft product you purchased. This is a license. The key is 25 character code. This is a combination of Latin characters in different registers with numbers. The code is written as a sequence of five five-character “words” separated by a dash. It looks like this:
DNAW6-WCRBM-TFBYC-TLVD8-2GV66t

The license key is confirmation of the legality of your use of the product. No other methods or means can be used for this purpose. For example, a sales receipt from the store where you bought the computer, or cash receipt or other payment document.

What is a license key for?

You will need a Windows key for:

system reinstallation
installing a new version, for example 10th
updating Windows to the next version
confirmation of the legality of the purchased product
receiving regular operating system updates

What types of keys are there?

Windows license keys come in several types and have different symbols: Installed Key, Product Key and OEM Key.
Product Key and OEM Key are essentially the same thing, just different names were used on different stickers, the design of which was constantly “improved”.
OEM key(Original Equipment Manufacturer) or Product Key is the operating system key preinstalled by the manufacturer on your computer or laptop. Every computer or laptop with the Windows operating system installed has Microsoft branded stickers. The computer manufacturer independently purchased and installed the operating system on your computer. The advantage is that you don’t have to pay extra Windows license, the downside is that the key is “tied” to this device. It is not possible to transfer the system to another computer. The key is written in the BIOS. But it is almost impossible to lose it.
Installed Key is a “free” activation key. You receive it when you purchase a “boxed” one. Windows versions For self-installation on computer. It is also printed on a sticker that is placed on the shipping box.

How can I find out the license key of my system?

The easiest way is to read it from the sticker. But there are a few “buts”. Stickers sometimes tend to get lost or simply wear off to such an extent that it is impossible to read the key on them. In addition, Microsoft periodically changed the design of the stickers. The changes ranged from minor to radical. For example, here is the sticker with which Asus was purchased with Windows 8.1 pre-installed on it

Windows 8 activation key

The sticker on the laptop case does not contain a license key. It's built into the BIOS. This method is used to activate Windows 8/8.1
Therefore, the most the right way- extract information about the activation key from Windows itself.
Microsoft offers its own option on how to Find out the Windows activation key.
However, this method does not always work, oddly enough. It happens when this script still “does not see” the activation key of the operating system, but produces the following line: ВВВВВ-ВВВВВ-ВВВВВ-ВВВВВ-ВВВВВ. Also, this script only shows the Installed Key (ending 6F4BT) and does not give information about the OEM Key.

Therefore, you can use various programs. For example, ProduKey. The result of the key definition looks like this:

The picture shows that there are two keys: Installed Key (end 6F4BT) and OEM Key (end 2GV33). Installed Key appeared in in this case, after "clean" Windows installations 10 on a laptop on which Windows 8.1 was installed by the manufacturer with an OEM Key (end 2GV33).

How can I lose my activation key?

Very simple. One user, convinced of the advantages of Windows 10 compared to his 7, finally decided to switch to 10. Moreover, Microsoft again announced the closure of the free transition option from January 1, 2018.
There are two ways to go - update and clean installation. The difference is that when updating, the data on your computer's drives remains safe, and most installed programs will remain installed. In fact, there are always risks, so many people prefer to do a clean installation, having first saved the data in cloud storage or at external storage. That's in progress clean install the user formatted the disk on the computer and... almost lost last chance switch to 10 legally. During formatting, along with the deleted 7, the key was also lost (if it was 8, the key would simply be taken from the BIOS). When he tried to read the key from the sticker, he saw that it had simply been erased to the point of being unreadable.
Why “almost lost” because, fortunately, there was a backup copy of Windows, from which the key was extracted using ShowKeyPlus.

What are the ways to recover the key?

With 8 everything is simpler; this is exactly the case when you don’t need to restore anything, because it’s almost impossible to lose. The OEM key is stored in the BIOS. You can view it in the BIOS using the program

To activate the Windows operating system, a special product license key is used. Key Windows product, designed 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.). d).

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. IN this moment, laptop manufacturers with pre-installed operating systems embed the product key into the BIOS to automatic activation 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 free, except AIDA64 and SIW.

Script with ".vbs" extension 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.

Free ProduKey program from famous manufacturer NirSoft does not require installation on your computer. The application shows keys to Windows OS and browser 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 Windows 10, or another operating system, and then in context menu Select "Copy Product Key" 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 - key sewn into Laptop BIOS 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 a window will open Free programs PC Audit, which will begin scanning the system.

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 perfectly 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 famous company Piriform, maker of CCleaner and other software. You can download the portable version of Speccy from the official website. Exists paid version programs with advanced capabilities.

The program provides the user detailed information about hardware computer, you can also use the application to find out the license key of the installed Windows.

Run Speccy program, in the “Operating system” section the version of the installed operating system and its serial number (activation key) will be displayed.

AIDA64 - powerful program to obtain 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) - a program for obtaining information about hardware state and computer software.

After launching SIW, go to the “Programs”, “Licenses” section. Information about the product key used in the system installed on the computer will be displayed here. operating system Windows.

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. Operating Windows does not save such keys, so programs do not see them.

Windows 10 uses new method System authentication (not available in 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. In case of replacement motherboard, servers Microsoft activation revoke the license for of this computer. Windows OS will offer to purchase new key product.

Conclusion

If necessary, the user can find out the Windows operating system license code by running the VBS script, or using specialized programs: ProduKey, ShowKeyPlus, Free PC Audit, Speccy, AIDA64, SIW.

Use of licensed software often guarantees stable work, software support and warranty in case of breakdown. That's why it's so important to know the activation key for Windows. The key for Windows is a 25 character code. In this article we will look at how to find out the product key for Windows installed on your personal computer.

For example, you can find out license keys for Windows:

Without using the system
Using a script
Through third party software

You can find out the Windows license key without using the system and without turning on the computer at all. If on your system unit or your laptop case still has a license sticker, you can look at the key on it. Here's what they look like:

The license key for activating Windows consists of 25 characters. If you have a sticker like this, it means you have a license key for your version of Windows.

In the arsenal of an experienced Windows installer The ProduKey program is always available. With its help, you can not only find out the key for Windows, but also the office suite.

How to find out your Windows product key:

Download the program from the website to find out the Windows activation key
Unpack and run the Producey.exe file

After launching the program, you will see a window where the keys of all installed products from Microsoft.

The program is very easy to use, even beginners should not have any questions. Another very useful feature of the program is that you can view the key not only local computer, but also remote computer online. How to find out your Windows license key:

Click "File" - "Select Source" or press F9
Specify the name of the computer on which you want to view the key

Now you know how to find out the key for Windows through third-party software.

note that this method doesn't work in the operating room Windows system 10. The script will help you find out the Windows product key on a laptop or desktop PC. The essence of the method is that you need to create a regular Text Document(in notepad, Word) and paste the script into it.

How to find out the Windows product key using a script (an example of how to find a Windows product key through a script is performed on Windows 8):

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

After pasting the script code, you need to save this document with the vbs extension.

After that, just run the created file. If everything was done correctly, you will see a message with the necessary information.

To activate Windows 7, a 25-digit special code is used - “product key”. Usually manufacturers indicate it on a special sticker on the computer case, but not always. Also, this inscription wears off over time, and it often happens that after just a year of using the laptop, the product key becomes unreadable.

If the user, for example, is faced with the need to reinstall Windows or the system simply crashes and loses its activation, then first of all you should find out the “Seven” key so as not to incur additional costs for purchasing a new one licensed Windows. Below are highlighted the most effective methods, allowing you to quickly view the key of the OS running on your computer.

The easiest way

If the user is wondering how to urgently find out the serial number of Windows 7 installed on his PC, then first of all it is necessary to examine the case of the laptop or desktop PC for the presence readable code on the sticker.

If it is missing, or due to severe wear it is impossible to identify the serial number, then the following are presented: software methods solution to the question posed.

Using a tool included with Windows 7 itself

It should be immediately noted that specialists from Microsoft did not take care of the convenience of their clients, and Windows 7 is able to show only a few characters of the required number.

The following sequential steps must be taken:

Hold down "Win" and click on "R";
In the empty column of the window that appears, type “slmgr.vbs /dlv” and open the found application;
A menu with the last few characters of the key will be displayed on the computer monitor.

To figure out full number The instructions below will help.

Using a written script

The required number is encrypted in the memory of the PC hard drive. Experts wrote a script for the eighth version of Windows, but it also works successfully for Windows 7. This script text needs to be pasted into Notepad and then saved with a special extension.

For the convenience of users using this instruction, all of the above operations have already been completed by the author of the manual, so you just need to click here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_w1_IySvxDlazNSWDNUY3E1OXc and download the file. After saving it anywhere on the computer, you need to quickly double-click on it with the mouse, and a window containing full key systems.

If you click on “Ok” in the menu that appears, more additional information about the licensed product.

Since this “VBScrit” was created for Windows 8, in the bottom line the user will see the name of the eighth version of the OS, but the third line should be read - “Windows 7 Key”.

Via the ProduKey application

The utility is freely distributed in global network and works great without installation. You can always download it at official resource developer of the NirSoft program. After saving archive file on a PC, the user only needs to take the following few steps: