How To Extract Windows 8 Product Key

If you're planning on doing a reinstall of Windows but tin can't discover your product key, you're in luck because it'south stored in the Windows Registry. It's simply not easy to observe, and it's impossible to read without some help. Luckily, we're here to help.

As y'all can run into in the screenshot above, the product ID is stored in the registry but is in a binary format that can't be read by humans unless yous are some sort of Cylon. Y'all aren't, are you?

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

We're not really sure why Microsoft went to bang-up lengths to go far difficult to run into the product keys for their software, especially since they are stored right in at that place in the registry and can be read by software, if not by humans. We can simply assume that they don't desire anybody to re-use a key from an erstwhile computer.

The great thing is that y'all tin can even recover a key, even from a calculator that won't kick anymore. All you need is access to the disk drive from a working computer. Keep reading for more.

3 Places You Might Find the Key

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The key you demand will be in one of three places:

Stored in software on your PC: When you lot (or your PC manufacturer) installs Windows, Windows stores its production cardinal in the registry. You can extract this product key, and–often–enter information technology when reinstalling Windows on your PC. Crucially, yous'll demand to grab information technology from your operating system before you begin reinstalling Windows or information technology could be deleted if you format your hard drive.
Printed on a sticker: Some PCs utilise a engineering chosen "Organization Locked Pre-installation," or SLP. If your PC uses this, the product key on your PC–the i stored in the registry, and the one key-viewer applications display–will be different from the actual key your PC needs. The actual cardinal is on a certificate of actuality (COA) sticker on your PC or its power supply. The one in the registry and key-viewer application is a red herring. This system was mutual for Windows 7 PCs.
Embedded in your PC's UEFI firmware: Many newer PCs that come with Windows viii or 10 utilise a new method. The key for the version of Windows the PC comes with is stored in the estimator'south UEFI firmware or BIOS. You don't even need to know information technology–assuming yous're installing the same edition of Windows the PC came with, it should automatically actuate and work without y'all needing to enter a key. It'll all happen automatically.

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

If the Key Is Stored in Your PC'south Hardware

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Let's 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 1 can glance at your reckoner'south sticker to steal its product key. Instead, the primal is stored in the computer'due south UEFI firmware or BIOS by the manufacturer.

Y'all don't have to practise anything special if you have this. Yous should but be able to reinstall the same edition of Windows the PC came with and it should simply work without fifty-fifty asking you for a key. (Still, it may be best to find the product central using one of the below methods and write it down earlier reinstalling Windows–just in case.)

If you want to find the UEFI-embedded key and write it down, you can exercise so quite simply. Merely open the Start menu, type "powershell", and run the Powershell awarding that comes up.

Then, enter the following command and press 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 prophylactic place.

Read the Key From the Certificate of Authenticity Sticker

If you take a Windows seven-era PC, there's a expert hazard the PC's central is a unmarried key the manufacturer uses for all their PCs. Thanks to "System Locked Pre-installation," you're not allowed to employ that key to install Windows. If you attempt, you'll get error messages near the key being invalid.

To cheque, you'll demand to look for a certificate of actuality sticker on your reckoner. The COA sticker verifies that the computer came with an authentic copy of Windows, and that sticker has a product key printed on information technology. You'll need that product fundamental to reinstall Windows–and, if the manufacturer used System Locked Pre-installation, that cardinal is different from the one your PC came with in software.

Examine your estimator to observe the cardinal. On a laptop, it may be on the bottom of the laptop. If your laptop has a removable bombardment, it may exist under the battery. If at that place's some sort of compartment you can open, it might be in there. It may even be stuck to the laptop'southward charger brick. If it's a desktop, look on the side of the desktop's instance. If information technology's not there, check the acme, back, lesser, and anywhere else it might be.

If the fundamental has rubbed off of the sticker, there's not much you can do. You can try contacting your computer's manufacturer and explaining what happened, but nosotros tin't guarantee they'll assist. Microsoft would always be happy to sell yous another key, though!

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

The easiest style to go admission to your product key is with a third-political party utility, and there's nobody better at those than NirSoft. Their utilities are e'er crapware-gratis, and are always really useful. The only issue with this particular utility is that some antivirus will detect it as a false positive, because some malware might try to steal your product cardinal.

Note:the NirSoft keyfinder won't always work for OEM computers, depending on how they decided to activate the licenses. If your OEM installed your computer and used a single primal for all their PCs, this won't work. It also doesn't piece of work for Office 2013.

All you take to practice is download ProduKey, unzip it, and then run information technology to immediately run into all of your product keys. It's as uncomplicated as that.

If you want to recover a fundamental from a dead computer, yous can claw up the hard drive to a working PC, and so run ProduKey and use File > Select Source to point to the external Windows directory. You tin and then grab the keys from that computer hands.

You lot tin can also employ a Linux alive CD to pull the Windows directory off the other computer and onto a thumb drive, or but grab the registry files if you prefer. If you lot need aid, we've got a guide to pulling data off a dead figurer.

RELATED: How to Recover Files From a Expressionless Computer

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

Assuming you tin boot your calculator without whatsoever problems, you can easily create a simple VBscript that volition read the value out of the registry so interpret it into the format that you demand for reinstalling. We're not sure where this script came from, but reader raphoenix posted information technology on our forum a long time ago, so we're sharing information technology here for you.

Copy and paste the following into a Notepad window:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") MsgBox ConvertToKey(WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId"))  Function ConvertToKey(Key) Const KeyOffset = 52 i = 28 Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789" Practise Cur = 0 10 = 14 Do Cur = Cur * 256 Cur = Key(x + KeyOffset) + Cur Fundamental(ten + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255 Cur = Cur Mod 24 x = 10 -1 Loop While x >= 0 i = i -1 KeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + i, 1) & KeyOutput If (((29 - i) Mod half dozen) = 0) And (i <> -1) So i = i -1 KeyOutput = "-" & KeyOutput Finish If Loop While i >= 0 ConvertToKey = KeyOutput Finish Function

You'll need to use File -> Relieve Equally, change the "Relieve as blazon" to "All Files" and and then proper noun information technology productkey.vbs or something like ending with the vbs extension. We'd recommend saving to the desktop for piece of cake access.

Once you've saved it, you lot tin can but double-click and the popup window will show you your product key.

Pro tip: If you use CTRL+C when the popup window is active, it will copy the contents of the window to the clipboard, so you can paste it into Notepad or somewhere else.

The product central arrangement is complicated to understand because Microsoft doesn't really want typical Windows users to reinstall Windows on their PCs. Instead, they'd rather yous apply your computer manufacturer's recovery media. But the recovery media is total of the bloatware you lot don't want on your PC–that's why so many geeks often opt to reinstall Windows on their new PCs.

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/206329/how-to-find-your-lost-windows-or-office-product-keys/

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