Determining Windows 7 Product Key

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Our PCs and laptops would usually have the same Windows 7 Volume Licence product key.
However, because of purchases of additional licences over the past few years, the product key which was given for each batch might have been used instead of the ‘main’ one.
Furthermore, it is possible that the product key which came with the PC or laptop might have been left unchanged.

My usual standby for determining the Windows product key, namely Nir Sofer’s Produkey, cannot determine the product key for Windows 7 and above, because (he says) that the information is no longer stored in the registry.

Does anyone know of some software which would enable me to determine the activated product key for Windows 7 on each of our devices?

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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You could try either of these two cmds – http://www.thewindowsclub.com/find-windows-product-key but I generally use either Belarc Advisor or Magic Jellybean, but with an OEM machine, they only give the vendor’s generic key which won’t activate a retail/repair install.

EDIT – Perhaps not – the cmd prompt cmd returned an Invalid query on my OEM Win 7 and the Powershell cmd just gave me the next prompt without returning any info.

There’s a useful link in the article which will give you these –

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/recover-save-windows-office-software-games-serials-keys

1 user thanked author for this post.

Steve

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BATcher,

It depends on who you want to believe! 😆

For my Win 10 Pro (upgraded from 8.0, 8.0 Pro, 8.1 Pro Media Center Ed.) I get a variety or results depending on the method used:

Windows Own service level manager (slmgr.exe)
44174-WinLicShort
As you can see it only provides the last 4 characters but unfortunately those are the numbers for the Windows 10 Insider Preview upgrade!

Of course Belarc Advisor can be even more confusing:
Version 8.4 results
44175-Belarc8-4
Windows 8.1 really!
Version 8.5c results
44176-Belarc8-5c
Well at least now they have the version correct!

BTW: this is the number used on the Insider Preview installs and I never installed the Preview on this machine!

Speccy reports:

Code:

Operating System
	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
	Computer type: Desktop
	Installation Date: 2/5/2016 6:21:55 PM
	Serial Number: xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-HCFC6

Now we’re getting somewhere! Speccy actually provides the whole key but I edited it.

My homegrown PowerShell program reports:

Code:

Item                      Value                                                
------                    -----                                                
OS Name                   Microsoft Windows 10 Pro                             
   Version                10.0.10586                                           
   Bit-Width              64-bit                                               
   Key                    xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-HCFC6  

Again edited but it is the number I have recorded in my RoboForm note that contains all my software and license numbers.

So who do you believe?

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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BATcher,

I forgot to mention that on my Win 7 HP laptop all the products (Speccy, Belarc, slmgr) report the same number! HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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That slmgr -dli cmd doesn’t produce anything on my Toshiba Win 7 laptop – are your installs retail, RG ?

EDIT – Oh yes it did – just took its time popping up 🙂 but it’s just the last digits of Toshiba’s generic key.

44178-slmgr

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Thank you, chaps! That seems like enough programs to keep me occupied for quite some time!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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If you want one more, there’s the old standby, Magical Jelly Bean Finder – https://www.magicaljellybean.com/

Jerry

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Thanks, Jerry – but without trying it yet I suspect that it will fail in the same way as did Produkey – the Windows 7 product key is not stored in the registry.

But I will try it!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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Haven’t tried it but it claims to work with Windows 7 and 8.

Jerry

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Haven’t tried it but it claims to work with Windows 7 and 8.

Jerry

FYI

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv Magical Jelly Bean vvvvvv Recover Keys

Recover serials for Windows 7, 8 and Office 2010 Yes Yes
Recover product key for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 from BIOS No Yes

Note the recovery from BIOS option is for the paid product.
(Just could not get this quote formatted right )

:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Wow, this is going to be an issue for a while.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/lazesoftwindowskeyfinder/ – claims it supports Win10…but doesn’t say it retrieves the key. Let us know if it works.

edit: second screen shot in the above link shows it returning Win10 TR product key. So likely it works!

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F.N.,

Seems to report the same as the others, at least for me!
44197-Lazesoft
:cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I’ve just worked through all the suggested programs for finding the Windows 7 Volume Licence product key, and can report:
* I got the same results as Sudo15 with the WMIC and PowerShell commands, namely error and nothing respectively
* Speccy gave no product key information at all
* Belarc said the the key ends with VWXYZ, the same as slmgr -dli A footnote says “The full product key is not stored on this computer.”
* Magical Jelly Bean says that “in the demo, the full product key is hidden”, but I don’t want to spend $30 to find out if it can or cannot find the full product key
* Lazesoft give the product key as BBBBB-BBBBB-…

So it looks as though I can only the get final five characters of the product key, the simplest way being via slmgr, which I can’t use in a BATch file since a windows comes up which I can’t process.

Thanks to all for suggestions!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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I’ve just worked through all the suggested programs for finding the Windows 7 Volume Licence product key, and can report:
….
* Belarc said the the key ends with VWXYZ, the same as slmgr -dli A footnote says “The full product key is not stored on this computer.”….

I have never had Belarc Advisor not list the full product key even on a Windows 7 volume license. I am even typing on a Lenovo Win7 laptop now and just checked with updated Belarc Advisor to see if anything had changed and it reports the full product key from the vendor license (as opposed to the product key required to be present as a COA on the laptop).

So I have to wonder if the UK or EU requires or the major makers practice not putting the full vendor product key on the machine as some sort of copy protection to keep people from creating a vendor license installation disk. If that is the case however, I am not sure why they would not do it in the USA. I’m not sure why since you cannot do a whole lot with a vendor license product key unless you have a copy of the original installation disk and the desire to slipstream an updated disk. It isn’t easy to make a working disk–you make a lot of coasters before you get it right–but doable using instructions on the net.

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Magical Jelly Bean says that “in the demo, the full product key is hidden”, but I don’t want to spend $30 to find out if it can or cannot find the full product key
* Lazesoft give the product key as BBBBB-BBBBB-…

Looks like you downloaded the wrong version. Try the free version on this page:
https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

Jerry

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Hey Y’all,

Here’s another PowerShell entry into this fray. This one liner purports to find the ORIGINAL windows key used on the machine and it seems to work!

[Code]
(get-wmiobject -query “Select * From SoftwareLicensingService”).OA3xOriginalProductKey
[/Code]

Dell XPS 14z Laptop: BH3RN-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-6CKHM (Does NOT match the Sticker on the machine! W7 or the Current Win 10 Pro Insider Edition)
Dell XPS 8700 Desktop: TK6FK-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-8B2MG (Key for Win 8 Std that is embedded in the firmware & matches my records)
Dell Inspiron 1564 Laptop Dual Boot:
Win 10 Home: Returns a Blank!
Win 7 HP: Errors out w/missing property on object error.
Dell XPS 137000: FMCGN-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-6JD2D (Does NOT match the Key reported by my CMsPCInfo.ps1 program, I’ll have to check this with others like BelArc & Speccy, surprised myself that I haven’t done this yet! Win 8.1)

The inconsistency continues!

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Using these I get nothing on my W8.1 box.
wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey
powershell “(Get-WmiObject -query ‘select * from SoftwareLicensingService’).OA3xOriginalProductKey”

cheers, Paul

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The ‘ before select and after SoftwareLicensingService – is that how you entered the cmd or just a typo in your reply, Paul – although copy & pasting the cmd into both powershell and powershell x86 only returned the next prompt without any output for me in my Win 7.

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The ‘ before select and after SoftwareLicensingService – is that how you entered the cmd or just a typo in your reply, Paul.

I tried various versions of quotes, including double. No joy.

cheers, Paul

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Hey Y’all,

Sorry I forgot to mention that you have to run PS as Admin for this to work! The command in the post is correct.

44564-asadmin

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Still the same result.

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Sudo,

What are your $PSVersionTable values?

Code:

PS> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value                                           
----                           -----                                           
PSVersion                      4.0                                             
WSManStackVersion              3.0                                             
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1                                         
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000                                 
BuildVersion                   6.3.9600.16406                                  
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0}                            
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.2 

:cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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What does that mean in English 😀

When I go Start and type powershell I have 5 to choose from –

Windows PowerShell

Ditto (x86)

Windows PowerShell ISE

Ditto (x86)

and Windows PowerShell Modules.

After opening the first one as an admin and copy & pasting the cmd, it just gave me the next cmd prompt line.

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Sudo,

You’re running a 64 bit OS so Choose Windows Powershell (that’s the 64 bit version) and Runas Administrator.
Paste the command in & hit enter
At the command prompt (if you get a result or not) type $PSVersionTable {enter}
Highlight it all and Copy.
Paste into response.

BTW: If the initial install to your machine was done by you a blank response is probably normal. This is basically designed to return the OEM installed key.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:Windowssystem32> (get-wmiobject -query “Select * From SoftwareLicensingService”).OA3xOriginalProductKey
PS C:Windowssystem32> $PSVersionTable

Name Value
—- —–
CLRVersion 2.0.50727.5485
BuildVersion 6.1.7601.17514
PSVersion 2.0
WSManStackVersion 2.0
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0}
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.1

PS C:Windowssystem32>

Still no key and it is an OEM Toshiba laptop.

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Sudo,

You need to update to PS Version 4.0.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Right – I’ll do that tomorrow as it involves uninstalling a KB and it’s after midnight here in the UK.

With an updated version, should that cmd give me the product key then ?

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With an updated version, should that cmd give me the product key then ?

Sudo,

I hate to say it but it depends? :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Go to start>settings>control panel>system and security>system

Here right at the bottom you will see under windows Activation

 

Windows is activated

Product ID: XXXXX-XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXX

I don’t understand why the number on the second cluster

is only 3 digits but the cluster after this has 7!

In any case there are 25 digits total – hope this helps.

Scotsman

 

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Could have a problem with this…

Part of the install instructions are to uninstall the old version first by uninstalling KB2819745.

However, I don’t have that KB installed.

If that came pre-installed as part of the Toshiba OEM install, would I be able to install the newer version on top ?

Although I would have thought that regardless of the version, that cmd should still have worked ?

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Updated – still no output.

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Hey Y’all,

Discovered something interesting while testing something else today.

My Computer Information program which has Powershell code different from that in this thread failed on my Wife’s Dell XPS 137000 laptop with Win 8.1 Home.

But the code in this thread works! Go figure….

:cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Should I have this Build Version for Win 7 –

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:Windowssystem32> $PSVersionTable

Name Value
—- —–
PSVersion 4.0
WSManStackVersion 3.0
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1
CLRVersion 4.0.30319.42000
BuildVersion 6.3.9600.16406
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.2

PS C:Windowssystem32>

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Sudo,

Yes that is the latest version for Win 7. :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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So why is the Build Version saying it is Win 10 ?

Prior to the update the Build Version that I posted gave it for Win 7

Just curious as the cmd didn’t work for me with either version.

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If you want to try something else, I haven’t done this for a few years, but in the past I used “SterJo Key Finder” – see https://www.sterjosoft.com/key-finder.html . There is a portable version.

Edit: Just noticed the dates for comments in this thread! After 8.5 years this is probably a redundant suggestion, so ignore it 🙂

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