While newer computers, now seem to store the Windows Product Key in the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). It does no harm to make a note of your activation key before you wipe your computer and reinstall Windows. So in this video, we take a look at how from the Command Prompt we can recover our Windows Product Key.
Note: The Product Key is only necessary to activate Windows. However, it is possible to run an un-activated version of Windows which will be missing key features and important updates. Then with Windows installed on your computer you can purchase a activation key through Windows online.
Quick reference notes:
- From the Windows desktop, select the Search bar.
- Within Search type CMD and press Enter on your keyboard
- When the Command Prompt window opens type the following:
wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey- When you press Enter on your Keyboard, the activation Key for your computer will be displayed.
Note: There are two types of Activation method, a Product Key and a Digital license. If your computer is using a digital license the command above will not display a key. This is because the license key has been digitally registered to the hardware you are using. So if you need to do a clean install of Windows and you have a Digital license, when reinstalling Windows select the option “I am Reinstalling Windows on this PC‘ and your computer will use the license its already been issued by Microsoft.
- To gracefully close the Command Prompt type:
exit- When you press Enter on your keyboard the Command Prompt window close.
Reference Material:
- Microsoft article – Windows commands
- Microsoft article – Find your Windows product key
- Wikipedia article – cmd.exe
- My-doodads article – How to use Windows Terminal to recover your Windows Product Key
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