Easily find the product key to activate your Windows license before reinstalling it.
Before embarking on a complete reinstallation of Windows, it is better to think about recovering the product key essential to the activation of the operating system on your machine. If you haven’t written it down anywhere or have lost the label that came with the installation disc, you can usually recover it quite easily.
However, different cases should be taken into account. If you upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8 to Windows 10, or purchased a copy of Windows 10 from the Windows Store, the OS is activated using a digital license, directly attached to your machine and to your Microsoft account. The activation of Windows 10 after its reinstallation is then done automatically.
On the other hand, if you have purchased and then installed a copy of Windows 10, or if your computer is already running Windows 10, the operating system is activated using a product key. You will therefore need to have it available to be able to activate your version of Windows.
On a label stuck on the PC, in the presentation box or by email
If you purchased a computer with Windows pre-activated on it, your machine should have a Certificate of Authenticity. Glued directly on the machine, this is a label on which you will find your product key to activate your version of Windows. Look on the side or back of your tower, or on the underside of your laptop, or under the battery if the battery is removable.
Alternatively, if you have purchased a Windows license yourself, you will find the product key either in the confirmation email received after purchase if it is a digital copy, either on a label or a card if you bought your license in a box.
Directly in the system
The Windows product key is stored directly in the system registry, and can be easily read using a dedicated utility.
To find this key, you can download the free utility Produkey. Once extracted from the archive, just run Produkey and it instantly displays the product key for your version of Windows
- Download Produkey for Windows (Free)
However, if you have a machine that came with a version of Windows pre-activated by the manufacturer, the license displayed in the system is different from the license you need to use to activate your version of Windows.
Manufacturers use generic keys to pre-activate the operating system before computers are released on the market. In this case, you must refer to the label affixed to the machine to find the product activation key. Note that this license is attached to the motherboard of the computer and therefore cannot be used on another machine.