Where is the windows activation key located? How to find out the activation key installed on a Windows computer

To activate the operating room Windows systems a special product license key is used. Key Windows product, designed to activate the system, differs depending on the version operating system(Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, etc.), OS edition (Home, Pro, etc.), distribution method (OEM, Retail, etc.).

To activate the Windows operating system, you use a product key consisting of 25 characters in the form of numbers and capital letters ( uppercase) 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 installed Windows by performing a special VBS script, as well as using five programs: ProduKey, ShowKeyPlus, Free PC Audit, Speccy, AIDA64, SIW. All listed programs are 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 Windows key 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10. Once you have found out the Windows product key, save the 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 the keys for Windows OS, Internet browser 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 for Windows 10, or another operating system, and then select “Copy Product Key” from the context menu 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 fine in the Windows 10, Windows 8.1, 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 the well-known company Piriform, manufacturer of CCleaner and others software. You can download a portable one from the official website Speccy version. 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 will be displayed, its serial number(activation key).

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) is a program for obtaining information about the hardware status and software of a computer.

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

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.

Used in Windows 10 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 will prompt you to purchase a new product key.

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.

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 a 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 licensed Windows. Below are 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 several last characters key

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, additional information about the licensed product will appear.

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 the archive file to the PC, the user only needs to take the following few steps:

Extract the contents of the archive;
Open the “Application” file;
Ready! The utility menu will show the key and ID.

SIW program

The application will also help you quickly solve the problem in the following several steps:

Open the application and go to the “Programs” tab
Next, open the “Licenses” subsection;
All. The necessary information will appear on the display.

"ShowKeyPlus"

By opening this freely distributed application on the Internet on your PC, you will immediately have access to the Windows 7 key.

Same free utility, which is located on the resource “vellisa.ru”. The main advantage of the program is the detail of the information it outputs.

"Free PC Audit"

To use the application's features, you must complete the following steps.

How can I find out the activation key for my operating system? This question can arise only in two cases. The first is if you need to reinstall the system and you didn’t have the disk. If you have a laptop, then system disk you couldn't have it, because... on Windows laptops should already be installed. The license key is usually glued to the bottom of the case or embedded in the BIOS.

At the time of buying desktop computer They also don’t always give you a disk with the distribution, but if they do, users often throw it away and only remember about it when it’s time to repair the computer.

And the second case is if you updated your system to Windows 10, from Windows 7 or 8, and you didn’t see any key, because it was installed automatically.

In general, it doesn’t matter how you installed the system and where the disk went, what’s important is that it’s not there, and there’s no activation key either. But it doesn't happen hopeless situations. And now we will make sure of this.

How to find out the operating system activation keyWindows

What is an activation keyWindows?

If your operating system Windows licensed, then to activate it, a special license key is used, or, as it is also called, a product key.

The activation key consists of 25 characters in the form capital letters Latin alphabet and numbers, divided into 5 groups of 5 characters:

XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Checking activation using the command line

To do this you need to open command line on behalf of administrator and type one of the commands below:

slmgr /dli— display information about the license.
slmgr/dlv— Displays detailed information about the license.
slmgr /xpr— display the activation end date.
vbs /rearm— activation reset, return to trial state.
vbs/ipk— installation of the product key.
vbs/skms— setting the KMS name or port.
vbs/ato- Windows activation.
vbs/upk— deleting the product key.
vbs/cpky— removing the product key from the registry (preventing theft).
At the moment we only need the first three commands.
If we write a command slmgr /dli and press the button Enter

If the Windows activation key is not on the bottom of the laptop, if the license key is lost installation DVD, where the key is indicated on the box, as well as in any other cases of loss of the latter, you must find out and save it. Moreover, there is no point in putting this matter off for a long time. Before scheduled reinstalling Windows Of course, the activation key can be found out as part of the general preparatory process. But, alas, reinstalling an operating system is a process that cannot always be carefully planned in advance. The need to reinstall the OS may arise at any time - after unsuccessful experiments with system settings And third party software, after the penetration of a virus, in case of a conflict of replaced hardware components, etc. Plus, Windows activation may simply fail. This is not only a natural consequence of replacing the motherboard to which the Windows product key is associated. Activation may fail, for example, after installation failed update systems.

The activation key for installed Windows can be seen in various programs for diagnosing system and hardware resources of a computer. For example, in popular program The AIDA64 Windows product key is indicated in the “Operating system” section, in the subsection with the same name.

In another similar program, PC-Wizard can be viewed in the “Configuration” section, in the “Operating System” subsection. When you click on the serial number at the top of the program window, below we get a display of the activation key of the installed Windows.

But if these programs are not installed on your computer, there is no point in bothering with their installation just to obtain a Windows activation key. It is much easier to use the small ProduKey program for these purposes. It does not require installation. ProduKey can be downloaded for free from its official website.

What ProduKey does is display the data of the activation keys installed Microsoft products. It doesn't have any other functions.

After unpacking the archive and running the EXE file in the program window, we will see, in particular, the activation key of the installed Windows. Click on the line with this key and call context menu and select “Copy Product Key”.

The Windows activation key copied to the clipboard must then be saved, for example in a TXT file or in web notes.

Windows 10 allows you to defer key entry and activation during the operating system installation process. Whereas more early versions systems will not want to install without entering a product key. Therefore, just in case of an emergency, it is better to write down the activation key for this system somewhere in a paper notebook.

Have a great day!

As a rule, after installing an operating system, it requires activation. If this is not completed within 30 days, constant pop-up messages and annoying errors will begin to appear. As a result, if 7 is not passed, it will not be very convenient to use, but about updating from the official website system files, services and drivers can be completely forgotten.

In order to complete activation, you must enter a license key, after which it is compared with the database Microsoft data. If it is entered correctly, the system will be ready to work without restrictions. When carrying out the operation, you must carefully monitor the entered data and use the activation software correctly, otherwise you may receive error 0x8007007b.

Where can I get a license key?

If you are using an official copy of the operating system, then activating Windows 7 will not pose any problems. The key must be indicated on the box with the disc in the accompanying documentation or in the files contained on the drive.

In addition, you can search for the key on the Internet or get it using special generators and activators. If you choose one of these methods, you will be using pirated software even if you enter the resulting code into licensed version Windows.

Searching for keys on the Internet

Not so long ago, searching online was the only option for obtaining license key. This method is full of disadvantages. However, many people still use it. Before you start searching, consider the disadvantages of this approach:

sites with keys are located in open access, which means that most of them are already used by someone;
huge lists of keys often turn out to be just a set of letters obtained using a generator program; they are posted on the site in order to attract visitors, but they cannot be used;
you have to make many attempts to enter the key and spend a lot of time searching for a working one.

As a rule, manually selecting a key often results in a message with code 0x8007007b - “ Syntax error in the file name, folder name, or volume label." Getting rid of it is not so easy. You will have to use a special built-in utility.

Using additional software

In order for Windows 7 activation to proceed correctly, you can use special software. However, its use does not guarantee safety. When searching for suitable software, you may encounter the following problems:

Each of these problems can cause you to reinstall the operating system from scratch. Therefore, you should choose activation software with extreme caution.

For example, you can use one of the programs listed in the picture. All of them are tested and work on different ones.

Obtaining a license using Windows Loader

Modern software allows you to quickly without unnecessary problems and actions on the part of the user. For example, using Windows program Loader.

The user is required to complete only three simple steps:

Download the program and run it;
Click the “Install” button;
To restart a computer.

That's all! You may be happy to see a message about choosing real software from Microsoft.

Result:

Even if you didn’t have time to choose for yourself in 30 days windows activator, your operating system will not be completely blocked, but will only slightly limit its functionality: they will disable updates and bother you with messages. In this case, you can also use the software.