How to know my Windows 10 product key

It is always interesting to know your Windows 10 product key , but if you experience problems in your computer, you think about changing the hard drive or you want to take advantage of your system license to install it on another machine directly, you need it. Because if you’re going to reinstall, you’ll probably have to enter it.

You can access this twenty-five character code divided into groups of five separated by scripts using a simple application in the operating system itself or by looking for it in different ways considering how you obtained your copy of Windows 10.

In spite of everything, you should bear in mind that it may be the case that the activation can be done through a digital license that did not require entering a product key. But this will also depend on the form of acquisition and is not applicable to all cases as Microsoft makes clear in its support.

Four ways to get your Windows 10 product key

• If you purchased your copy of Windows through an authorized distributor , the product key is found on a label or card inside the box in which Windows was sent.
• If Windows came with the purchase of a new device, the product key will be pre-installed in the machine and you can find it in the package in which the device was sent or in the certificate of authenticity attached to the device. Normally it will be on a sticker located at the base of the laptop, as well as on the sides or top of a tower.
• If you obtained Windows from a digital copy of a Microsoft website , the product key came to you in a confirmation email. However, if it was distributed as a digital license, keep in mind that it does not include this code.
• If you have Windows 10 because you upgraded to it free when it was offered to you by Redmond, from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you should also have a digital license instead of a product key.

More options to find the Windows 10 key

Sometimes these methods that we recommend from Microsoft are not enough because none of them works in our case. At this point we can contact the manufacturer of our team to give us information on where to find the key, if our copy of Windows has it, or try these other methods .

• Going to the registry of the system : HKEY LOCAL MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows NT / CurrentVersion / SoftwareProtectionPlatform and in list of variables we look for “BackupProductKeyDefault”. There he should be.
• Executing PowerShell , as they highlight in the comments , introducing the following: powershell “(Get-WmiObject -query ‘select * from SoftwareLicensingService’). OA3xOriginalProductKey”.

If you are going to change hardware …

If you are about to make a major hardware change, such as replacing your computer’s motherboard, you should know that you can link your Microsoft account to the Windows 10 digital license on your device. As Microsoft explains, “this can help you re-activate Windows through the Activation Troubleshooter.”

You can do it like this:

1. Go to Start> Settings> Update and security> Activation and there we select “Activate an account” .
2. You initiate session with your account and password of the account of Microsoft and you also write the password of your account in the equipment if both are not connected.
3. After adding your Microsoft account , the activation page will tell you that “Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account.”

After making the hardware change, you will have to go back to the “Activation” section of the Windows configuration and select the option “I have recently changed the hardware of this device” . There, you can re-link the device to your Microsoft account, which in turn is linked to the Windows 10 digital license.