Windows Product KeyNote: This Windows Product Key tutorial will work for any Windows system, including Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. If you ever need to reinstall Windows you're going to need to know your Windows product key. The Product Key is the 25 character code that came with your computer or with your copy of Windows. Most often you can find it on the outside your computer case on a sticker. Or, it may be with the paperwork that came with your PC or your copy of Windows. If you've looked everywhere and cannot find your Product Key, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is it can be found in your system's registry. The bad news is, it is encrypted so that you can't read it. "Well, that's just great!", you say. Not to worry, it can still be recovered. What you need to do is choose one of the free product key finder programs that support Windows, like Keyfinder.
On your desktop, you'll see the folder with a zipper on it showing that it is a zipfile. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed to reduce the file size. The files need to be "extracted" before you can use them. Right-click on the folder and select "Extract All.." from the resulting menu. At the "Opening Keyfinder" window shown below, select "Save File" and click OK.
This will bring up the "Extraction Wizard" shown below.
Click Next to start the wizard. The "Destination" window will appear asking you to choose a location for the extracted files. Browse to the Desktop if it isn't already selected and click Next.
The "Extraction complete" window will now be visible. Click Finish to continue.
The next window will show the Keyfinder folder residing on the Desktop. Double-click on the folder to open it. Click RUN at the Security Warning window.
Inside the Keyfinder folder you'll see the Keyfinder.exe executable file. If you wish you can right-click on the executable file and send it to the Desktop as a shortcut. When you are ready, double-click on the keyfinder executable file to run Keyfinder. In less than a second you'll see the results window shown below. In the left pane will be a list of applications from your PC that have keycodes attached to them. By selecting an application on the left, the resulting keycode will be shown in the right pane. Just select "Microsoft Windows (your system)" to see your Windows keycode. It should be in this format: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX with letters and numbers replacing the X's shown here.
Now you know how to find your Windows Product Key no matter which version you have! Return From Windows Product Key to the XP Tutorials Page Return From Windows Product Key to the Vista Tutorials Page Return to the Windows 7 Tutorials Page New! CommentsHave your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
