How To Find Windows 7 Product Key

If you're planning on doing a reinstall of Windows but can't detect your product key, you're in luck because it's stored in the Windows Registry. Information technology'due south just not piece of cake to find, and it'southward impossible to read without some help. Luckily, we're here to help.

As you lot can see in the screenshot to a higher place, the production ID is stored in the registry but is in a binary format that can't be read past humans unless you are some sort of Cylon. You aren't, are you?

RELATED: Beginner Geek: How to Reinstall Windows on Your Computer

We're not actually sure why Microsoft went to great lengths to make information technology difficult to see the product keys for their software, especially since they are stored right in in that location in the registry and can exist read by software, if not by humans. We can simply presume that they don't want anybody to re-utilise a key from an old computer.

The swell thing is that you can even recover a key, fifty-fifty from a computer that won't boot anymore. All you lot need is admission to the disk drive from a working estimator. Keep reading for more.

Iii Places You Might Find the Fundamental

RELATED: Where to Download Windows x, eight.1, and seven ISOs Legally

The central yous demand will be in 1 of three places:

Stored in software on your PC: When you (or your PC manufacturer) installs Windows, Windows stores its product key in the registry. Yous can excerpt this production cardinal, and–often–enter it when reinstalling Windows on your PC. Crucially, you'll need to grab it from your operating system before you brainstorm reinstalling Windows or it could be deleted if yous format your hard drive.
Printed on a sticker: Some PCs use a technology called "Organisation Locked Pre-installation," or SLP. If your PC uses this, the product key on your PC–the ane stored in the registry, and the one cardinal-viewer applications display–will be different from the actual primal your PC needs. The bodily key is on a certificate of authenticity (COA) sticker on your PC or its power supply. The one in the registry and central-viewer application is a ruby herring. This system was common for Windows 7 PCs.
Embedded in your PC's UEFI firmware: Many newer PCs that come with Windows 8 or 10 use a new method. The primal for the version of Windows the PC comes with is stored in the computer'southward UEFI firmware or BIOS. You don't even need to know it–assuming yous're installing the same edition of Windows the PC came with, it should automatically actuate and piece of work without you needing to enter a key. It'll all happen automatically.

Be sure to employ the same version and edition of Windows the estimator came with. In other words, if it came with Windows 7 Home Premium, you tin't install Windows 7 Professional.

If the Key Is Stored in Your PC'southward Hardware

surface pro 3

Permit'due south start with the simplest situation. On newer Windows 8 and 10 computers, the key isn't stored in software where it tin be wiped, or on a sticker where it could be smudged off or removed. No ane can glance at your computer's sticker to steal its production cardinal. Instead, the fundamental is stored in the computer's UEFI firmware or BIOS by the manufacturer.

Yous don't have to practise anything special if you take this. You should only be able to reinstall the same edition of Windows the PC came with and information technology should simply work without even asking you for a key. (Still, it may be best to find the product key using ane of the beneath methods and write it downward before reinstalling Windows–just in case.)

If you lot want to find the UEFI-embedded key and write information technology down, you tin can do so quite just. Just open the Beginning menu, type "powershell", and run the Powershell application that comes up.

Then, enter the following command and printing Enter:

(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey

You should be rewarded with your embedded license key. Write it down and store it in a safe place.

Read the Central From the Document of Actuality Sticker

If you have a Windows seven-era PC, there'south a adept risk the PC'southward key is a single key the manufacturer uses for all their PCs. Thanks to "System Locked Pre-installation," you lot're not immune to employ that key to install Windows. If you lot try, y'all'll get error messages about the key being invalid.

To check, you lot'll need to await for a certificate of authenticity sticker on your computer. The COA sticker verifies that the computer came with an accurate copy of Windows, and that sticker has a product fundamental printed on it. You'll demand that product central to reinstall Windows–and, if the manufacturer used System Locked Pre-installation, that key is unlike from the i your PC came with in software.

Examine your estimator to find the central. On a laptop, it may be on the bottom of the laptop. If your laptop has a removable battery, it may exist under the bombardment. If at that place'due south some sort of compartment you can open, information technology might exist in there. It may even be stuck to the laptop'due south charger brick. If it'southward a desktop, look on the side of the desktop's example. If it'due south not in that location, check the elevation, dorsum, bottom, and anywhere else it might be.

If the fundamental has rubbed off of the sticker, there'south not much y'all can do. You can endeavour contacting your estimator's manufacturer and explaining what happened, just we can't guarantee they'll help. Microsoft would ever be happy to sell you another key, though!

Use NirSoft's ProduKey to Recover Production Keys (Even if You Tin't Boot the PC)

The easiest manner to get admission to your product key is with a third-party utility, and at that place's nobody improve at those than NirSoft. Their utilities are ever crapware-complimentary, and are always actually useful. The only issue with this item utility is that some antivirus will detect it as a fake positive, because some malware might try to steal your product key.

Annotation:the NirSoft keyfinder won't e'er work for OEM computers, depending on how they decided to actuate the licenses. If your OEM installed your computer and used a single key for all their PCs, this won't work. It besides doesn't work for Function 2013.

All you have to practise is download ProduKey, unzip it, and and so run it to immediately run into all of your production keys. It's equally simple as that.

If you want to recover a cardinal from a dead computer, you can hook upward the hard drive to a working PC, and so run ProduKey and employ File > Select Source to point to the external Windows directory. Yous can then grab the keys from that calculator easily.

You can also utilize a Linux alive CD to pull the Windows directory off the other estimator and onto a thumb drive, or just grab the registry files if y'all adopt. If you demand assistance, nosotros've got a guide to pulling data off a dead computer.

RELATED: How to Recover Files From a Dead Computer

Find the Windows Key Without Whatever Software (Advanced Users Simply)

Assuming you can boot your estimator without whatever problems, you tin can hands create a uncomplicated VBscript that will read the value out of the registry and so translate it into the format that yous need for reinstalling. Nosotros're non sure where this script came from, but reader raphoenix posted it on our forum a long time ago, so we're sharing it here for you.

Re-create and paste the post-obit into a Notepad window:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Beat") MsgBox ConvertToKey(WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId"))  Function ConvertToKey(Fundamental) Const KeyOffset = 52 i = 28 Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789" Practice Cur = 0 10 = 14 Do Cur = Cur * 256 Cur = Fundamental(x + KeyOffset) + Cur Key(x + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255 Cur = Cur Modern 24 ten = x -1 Loop While x >= 0 i = i -1 KeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, ane) & KeyOutput If (((29 - i) Modernistic 6) = 0) And (i <> -1) And so i = i -ane KeyOutput = "-" & KeyOutput Stop If Loop While i >= 0 ConvertToKey = KeyOutput End Office

Yous'll need to utilise File -> Save As, modify the "Salvage every bit type" to "All Files" and so name it productkey.vbs or something similar ending with the vbs extension. We'd recommend saving to the desktop for easy access.

Once you've saved it, you can just double-click and the popup window will show y'all your product cardinal.

Pro tip: If y'all use CTRL+C when the popup window is active, it will copy the contents of the window to the clipboard, and then yous can paste it into Notepad or somewhere else.

The product key system is complicated to sympathize because Microsoft doesn't really want typical Windows users to reinstall Windows on their PCs. Instead, they'd rather yous use your reckoner manufacturer'southward recovery media. Simply the recovery media is total of the bloatware you don't want on your PC–that's why so many geeks often opt to reinstall Windows on their new PCs.