How to recover your Windows product key When Lost

It is a big challenge when you need your Windows product key, and you can’t find it anywhere. To do a re-install of Windows, you need this key. The good news is that you can find the product key in three ways.

You should know that the key itself is stored in Windows Registry. But it may not be possible for you to make sense of the information there or retrieve the key for use later. We will examine all three ways that you can use to recover the Windows product key here in this article.

Why stored in the Windows Registry?

It is easy to find the key in the registry stored in a binary form and impossible for humans to read. The reason why Microsoft did this could be for security purposes. They could be doing that so that only Microsoft team members could decipher the code and retrieve the key. Another possible reason for keeping it there is that Microsoft doesn’t want anyone to re-use an old key. This could be true, as software can only read the product key.

Three places to look for lost Windows product key

• Windows Registry: It stores the product key inside the registry when Windows is installed. It is possible to extract the product key from there and use it to re-install Windows on your PC. You must first get it from the registry before you begin the process of a new installation for it to be used. Once you format your Windows, the action can delete the key from the registry.
• Printed on a sticker: Some PCs have “System Locked Pre-installation” or SLP technology. Please note that if your PC uses this technology, the product key found in the registry will not be the same as the real one that your PC needs for re-installation. The actual key should be found on a certificate of authenticity (COA) sticker under the PC itself, or it could be found on its power supply. This is especially true if your system is Windows 7.
• Embedded in PC’s UEFI firmware: This method is standard with newer Windows products, such as Windows 8 or 10. These PCs store the Windows product key in UEFI or BIOS. The advantage is that if you want to re-install the same version of Windows in the future, the PC automatically recalls the key, so you don’t have to worry about knowing or keeping the key by yourself in a safe place. Note that this method of automatic retrieval will not work if you installed Windows 7 Home Premium but later want to install Windows 7 Professional.

Now, let’s analyze how to retrieve the key in the three places mentioned here. The first place we will examine is the hardware. This is the simplest option that applies to Windows 8, 10, and 11 computers.

1^st Method: Retrieve the key in Windows 8, 10 and 11

It is the simplest way because the key isn’t stored in the software. It can be wiped by formatting your copy of Windows. Also, it isn’t possible for anyone to steal the key as they can physically look at it. The reason is that the key is stored on the PC UEFI firmware or the BIOS on these Windows. That’s how your PC came from the manufacturer.

Yet, you can even find the key, and if you wish, you can keep it in a safe place. However, this step is not a by-all-means step that you should take because you can still re-install the same edition of Windows without typing in the exact key.

If you want to know the key and store it in someplace safe, follow the next instruction to do so.

• Open the Start menu on your PC
• Type “Powershell”
• Run the Powershell application as an admin once it shows
• Enter: (Get-WmiObject -query ‘select * from SoftwareLicensingService’).OA3xOriginalProductKey
• Your Windows product key should show. Write it and store it in a safe place where you can find it any time you want.

This is the first method. It is straight and simple. Now, let’s go to the second method.

2^nd Method: Retrieve the key from the COA sticker

In this case, you’re working on a Windows 7 PC. It happens that in the cases of Windows 7 PCs, there’s a single key the manufacturer uses for all their PCs. But that key can’t be used to re-install Windows. This is due to the technology called “System Locked Pre-installation.” If you try to use that key, you’ll get an error message.

You need to do this if you need to get the Windows product key using the COA sticker method. Here’s what to do.

Find the key on your laptop

• Check the bottom of your laptop.
• Open the battery compartment if the laptop uses a removable battery. Look under the battery itself.
• Check and open any compartment you can find under the laptop.
• The key could be stuck on your laptop’s charger.

Find the key on a desktop

• Look on the side of the desktop’s case
• If you don’t find it there, check the top, bottom, back, and anywhere else.

The only thing is that you have no choice but to forget it if the key has rubbed off the sticker. The only option left may be to contact the PC manufacturer and tell them what happened.

3^rd Method: Retrieve the key using NirSoft’s ProduKey

This is a third-party means to recover the Windows product key, and it can be used even if you can’t boot the PC. NirSoft makes this possible. But it may not work in all cases, especially if your PC manufacturer uses a single key for all their products.

Find the key using NirSoft

• Download NirSoft ProduKey HERE
• Run it immediately
• It will show all your product keys

What if the PC is dead? You can still recover your key from a dead PC. Take the following steps.

• Connect the hard drive as an external drive to a working PC.
• Run the ProduKey software from NirSoft
• Use File > Select Source. This will point to the external Windows directory.
• Grab your key.

Conclusion

As it appears, Microsoft wants to make retrieving the keys hard for normal typical Windows users. The three methods explained above can be used by anyone to retrieve keys because they are pretty simple and straightforward. The steps to re-installing Windows on a new PC are better than using the recovery media that could be full of bloatware.