How to find out the license key of installed windows xp. How to find out the activation key for the Windows operating system

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 is erased over time, and it often happens that after a year of operation of the laptop, the product key becomes unreadable.

If the user, for example, is faced with the need to reinstall Windows, or the system simply crashes with the loss of its activation, then first of all you should find out the Seven key so as not to incur additional costs for acquiring a new licensed Windows. Below are the most effective methods that allow you to quickly view the key of the operating system on your computer.

The easiest way

If the user wondered 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 a laptop or a stationary PC for a readable code on the sticker.

In the case when it is absent, or due to severe wear it is impossible to identify the serial number, then the software methods for solving the question are presented below.

Using a tool that is part of Windows 7 itself

It should be noted right away that Microsoft specialists did not take care of the convenience of their customers, and the seventh Windows is able to show only a few characters of the desired number.

You need to take the following sequential steps:

1. Hold "Win", click on "R";
2. In the empty column of the displayed window, type "slmgr.vbs / dlv" and open the found application;
3. A menu will be displayed on the computer monitor with the last few characters of the key.

The instructions below will help you find out the full number.

Using a written script

The desired number is encrypted in the memory of the PC hard drive. Specialists wrote a script for the eighth version of Windows, but it also works successfully for Windows 7. This script text must be inserted into Notepad and then saved with a special extension.

For the convenience of users using this manual, all 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 double-click on it quickly with the mouse, and a window will appear containing the full system key.

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”, then 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”.

Through the ProduKey application

The utility is freely distributed in the global network and works fine without installation. You can always download it on the official resource of the NirSoft program developer. After saving the archive file to the PC, the user only needs to take a few steps as follows:

1. Extract the contents of the archive;
2. Open the file "Application";
3. 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 steps:

1. Open the application and go to the "Programs" tab
2. Next, open the "Licenses" subsection;
3. All. The required information will appear on the display.

"ShowKey Plus"

By opening this application freely distributed on the Internet on a PC, you will immediately get access to the key of the seventh Windows.

Also a free utility, which is located on the resource "vellisa.ru". The main advantage of the program is in the details of the information it displays.

Free PC Audit

The following steps are required to use the application's features.

It would seem that it could be easier than to carry out such an action as finding out the Windows 8 key. But in fact, this is not quite an easy task, since only the product code is displayed in the system properties, and not the key itself.

Why it might be needed

A few years ago, it was common practice to place a sticker on the back of a laptop or inside the system unit: here you could easily see the Windows 8 license key on it. But since the value of the laptop form factor is in its mobility, frequent friction with different surfaces of the sticker quickly fell into disrepair, and the information on them became unreadable. And this could be critical if the key was not prudently rewritten somewhere in a safe place.

After a little thought, the manufacturers found a fairly simple and at the same time relatively reliable tool for saving licensed data. It was decided to sew activation information into the BIOS - the primary subroutine responsible for launching and debugging the operation of all components and modules of a personal computer. But if something happens to the hard drive and motherboard, then even after replacing them, the license will be lost.

Fortunately, the user has at his disposal tools for implementing such a task as finding out the Windows 8 product key. And this can be done in several ways. In general, this is an optional operation, but its usefulness can be greatly underestimated. So let's take a closer look at the options available.

Methods

You can find out the serial number of Windows 8 both through the tools embedded in the operating system itself, and with the help of utilities from third-party developers. And it is worth noting that in the G8 itself there are several ways to do this, but some of them are extremely impractical, while the latter only partially cope with the task. We simply will not consider such untenable options.

So, let's start with the basic tool, and then we'll look at several third-party ones.

File creation

The reader will have to create a small file that, when opened, will display the information of interest.

To do this, you need to create a text document in any place convenient for the user.

Then open it up and either enter it manually or copy and paste the following:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

regKey="HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersion"

DigitalProductId = WshShell.RegRead(regKey & "DigitalProductId")

Win8ProductName = "Windows Product Name: " & WshShell.RegRead(regKey & "ProductName") & vbNewLine

Win8ProductID = "Windows Product ID: " & WshShell.RegRead(regKey & "ProductID") & vbNewLine

Win8ProductKey = ConvertToKey(DigitalProductId)

strProductKey = "Windows 8 Key: " & Win8ProductKey

Win8ProductID = Win8ProductName & Win8ProductID & strProductKey

MsgBox(Win8ProductKey)

MsgBox(Win8ProductID)

Function ConvertToKey(regKey)

Const KeyOffset = 52

isWin8 = (regKey(66) 6) And 1

regKey(66) = (regKey(66) And &HF7) Or ((isWin8 And 2) * 4)

Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789"

Cur = regKey(y + KeyOffset) + Cur

regKey(y + KeyOffset) = (Cur 24)

Cur = Cur Mod 24

Loop While y >= 0

winKeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & winKeyOutput

Loop While j >= 0

If(isWin8=1) Then

keypart1 = Mid(winKeyOutput, 2, Last)

winKeyOutput = Replace(winKeyOutput, keypart1, keypart1 & insert, 2, 1, 0)

If Last = 0 Then winKeyOutput = insert & winKeyOutput

a = Mid(winKeyOutput, 1, 5)

b = Mid(winKeyOutput, 6, 5)

c = Mid(winKeyOutput, 11, 5)

d = Mid(winKeyOutput, 16, 5)

e = Mid(winKeyOutput, 21, 5)

ConvertToKey = a & "-" & b & "-" & c & "-" & d & "-" & e

Then you need to select "File" and find the item "Save as".

First of all, in the window that opens, you will need to select the “All files” position in the “File type” column. Then you will need to fill in the "Name" field. In principle, you can name the file whatever you like, but the main thing is to add the following at the end: .vbs. It is when this extension is specified that everything will work, but if this is not done, then nothing will work.

Once the above is done and the information is saved, the file can be opened. First, a window will appear exclusively with the key, and after clicking "OK", a second window will appear on the screen, where the information will be presented in more detail.

Applications

To find out information about the OS key, there are both specialized utilities and those in which such tools are only included as a small part of the available features.

Of the specialized utilities, we can mention the tiny program ProduKey, the sole purpose of which was to set the value of the activation keys of all possible products from Microsoft. If the reader has Microsoft Office, then the program will also display its license key. The application is free, and it can be easily and simply downloaded on the developers' website in the appropriate section or by immediately clicking on the link.

Open the archive, run the utility and look at what is of interest.

Similar license information can also be obtained from applications such as Everest, AIDA64 or Free PC Audit. The first is the predecessor of the second, but they are united by the fact that both of them are paid. The latter is their analogue and has almost the same functions as the first two, but it is distributed free of charge. You can get it on the developers website or by following the link.

After downloading, you just need to open the application and wait until it collects all the necessary information.

After the scan is completed, the license key will be visible immediately - on the first page in the corresponding column.

How to find out the Windows 8 key: Video

In today's article, we will explore the issue of how to find windows serial number, which was pre-installed on your equipment upon purchase.

Recently, Microsoft has changed the way they license their OEM products, namely Microsoft Windows. We are talking about those types of licenses that are usually pre-installed on laptops and system units by the manufacturer or assemblers, namely OEM licenses, licenses for developers and versions for one language (single language).

Previously, when you bought a laptop with Windows 7 installed, you could find a sticker on the back of the equipment with the name of the purchased license and its activation key, which usually consisted of 25 characters. But since the release of Windows 8, the methods of distributing licenses have changed and now on the back of your laptop you will find only the Microsoft branded label, which confirms the right to use the operating system. Neither the name of the license nor the key will be on the sticker!

Why is that? The thing is that with the advent of the UEFI BIOS, it became possible to sew the key directly into it, and the system is activated automatically, without manually entering the key, provided that the laptop has exactly the edition of the operating system for which the serial number is preinstalled. Those. If you bought a Windows 8 laptop with a single language license and then upgraded to Windows 8 Professional, then your copy of Windows will not be activated.

• Contact the technical support of the equipment manufacturer. It will take a lot of time and will cost a lot of money. In addition, you will receive a clean operating system with basic settings and will definitely lose all personal information.
• Use standard Windows recovery tools. In this case, you simply roll back your system to its original state from the copy that is stored on the “invisible” partition of your hard drive, provided that you have not deleted it.

  This method is more likely designed for novice users, but not very convenient in practice. The thing is that when the system is rolled back, the user gets the original pre-installed copy of Windows, with all previously installed demo programs, proprietary utilities and other garbage that clogs the system and in most cases will never come in handy for an ordinary, and advanced user. You will also not be able to change the hard disk partitions as it would be more convenient for you during recovery.

  In addition, you must copy your personal data and settings to external storage in advance, otherwise you will lose them. This also brings some inconvenience.

  If for various reasons you do not want to carry out these operations yourself, then we are ready to offer you our assistance in installing the operating system on your equipment. Check out our website!

• What if the recovery partition does not exist, or recovery from it is impossible for various reasons? In this case, you will need to download the distribution kit of the operating system that is associated with your purchased license. Next, you need to burn it to a DVD disc or create a bootable USB flash drive, and then carry out a clean installation of the operating system.

  But the difficulty is that Microsoft has not officially published its distributions for download for a long time and finding the edition of Windows you need can cause problems, and downloading various modified pirated assemblies is also wrong. Another disadvantage in this approach is the problem with the initial activation after a clean installation. Windows for various reasons, despite the fact that the assembly is selected correctly, may not want to go through activation.

How to get a Windows license key on a laptop

That is why we will need to extract the license key from the BIOS in order to activate the system manually via the Internet or by phone. To do this, we need to open the command line: Start > Run > cmd.exe

In the window that appears, run the command:

wmic path softwarelicensingservice get oa3xoriginalproductkey

Computer owners often face a situation where they need to find out the activation key for their operating system. And in most cases, this is quite simple to do: a sticker is placed on a desktop computer or laptop, on which it is indicated. But what if this sticker is rubbed off or even peeled off? The answer is simple - "pull out" the license key from the operating system itself.

View key on Windows 7

, then first of all turn your attention to programs for a complete computer diagnostics. With their help, the easiest way to find out the activation key. One of these programs is the notorious AIDA 64. In order to view the activation code in it, you need to go to the "Operating system" tab. There will be a "License Information" section where the product key will be written.

Another way to view the Windows activation key is to use the KeyFinder utility. It allows you to find the keys to almost all installed software products and from the operating system itself. You will only need to install, run it and select from the proposed list the software whose activation code you want to know.

In general, there are still a lot of programs that allow you to find out the Windows 7 activation key. With minimal programming knowledge, you can do without them altogether by writing and running a script that works with PowerShell or VBScript.

Entering an activation key in Windows 7

Many users are afraid to reinstall the operating system because they do not know where to enter the windows 7 key and when to do it. But in fact, there is nothing complicated in this process. With a clean installation of windows, the activation key must be entered at the system setup stage. After creating an account, you will be presented with a screen prompting you to enter a 25-character product key. Then, after entering it, the system will require you to go through the activation procedure.

You must activate an already installed operating system within 30 days after installation. You can do this through the properties of "My Computer". In the basic information window, at the bottom is the column " Windows Activation».

There you need to click on the item "Change product key" and enter the windows 7 license code you know. After that, the system will automatically start activating the key via the Internet.

Windows 7 key extraction script

The point is that the key is stored in the Windows registry, but in an encrypted binary format. This key cannot be used.

You can easily create a simple VBScript that will read the values ​​from the registry and then translate it into the format you need to reinstall.

Copy and paste the following text into notepad:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
MsgBox ConvertToKey(WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId"))

Function ConvertToKey(Key)
Const KeyOffset = 52
i = 28
Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789"
Do
Cur = 0
x=14
Do
Cur = Cur * 256
Cur = Key(x + KeyOffset) + Cur
Key(x + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255
Cur = Cur Mod 24
x=x-1
Loop While x >= 0
i = i -1
KeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & KeyOutput
If (((29 - i) Mod 6) = 0) And (i<>-1) Then
i = i -1
KeyOutput = "-" & KeyOutput
End If
Loop While i >= 0
ConvertToKey = KeyOutput
end function

When saving the file, give it the vbs extension:

Now run the resulting file by double-clicking the mouse:

The script will show a window containing your key.

If the Windows activation key is not on the bottom of the laptop, if the licensed installation DVD is lost, where the key is indicated on the box, as well as in any other cases of loss of the latter, you need to find out and save it. Prichtm put off this matter indefinitely is not worth it. Before the planned reinstallation of Windows, of course, the activation key can be found out as part of the general preparatory process. But, alas, reinstalling the operating system is such a process that it cannot always be carefully planned in advance. The need to reinstall the OS can 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 can simply fail. This is not only a natural consequence of replacing the motherboard to which the Windows product key is tied. Activation may fail, for example, after installing an unsuccessful system update.

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

In another similar program, PC-Wizard can be found in the "Configuration" section, in the "Operating system" subsection. When you click on the serial number in the upper part of the program window at the bottom, we get the display of the activation key of the installed Windows.

But if these programs are not installed on the computer, it makes no sense to bother with installing them just for the sake of obtaining a Windows activation key. It is much easier to use a small ProduKey program for these purposes. It does not require installation. ProduKey can be downloaded from its official website for free.

What ProduKey does is display activation key data for installed Microsoft products. It has no 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. We click on the line with this key, call the context menu and select "Copy Product Key".

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

Windows 10 allows you to delay key entry and activation during the operating system installation process. Whereas earlier versions of the system will not want to be installed without entering the product key. Therefore, just in case of an emergency, it is better to write down the activation key from this system somewhere in a paper notebook.

Have a great day!