How to use the Command Prompt to recover your Windows Product Key

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:



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