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For most users, particularly with Microsoft Windows 10, the last operating system you will ever need, at that place has been no need for production keys because in that location has been no "new" version of Windows. When this article was commencement published in August 2021, Windows eleven was a pending release – now that information technology's bachelor, we have tips on how to find your product key in Windows 11. Notwithstanding, some users may even so need to know their Windows 10 production central.

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Your Windows 10 product central should be listed on a sticker located on your computer hardware somewhere—typically in the near inaccessible spot possible. Merely earlier you lot go crawling behind your desk looking for a 25-digit alphanumeric lawmaking printed in fine impress on the backside of your PC, in that location are less strenuous ways to track down your Windows 10 production central.

This how-to tutorial shows you how to find your Windows 10 product key using the power of the operating system itself.

How to find your Windows 10 product key

Before we begin, note that the success of any of these methods is largely dependent on how your PC was activated. If you activated Windows 10 by upgrading from a valid Windows seven or 8 installation or with the computer'due south recent purchase, you are likely to find the product fundamental with near of these methods. However, if your PC was activated as part of an organisation's licensing agreement, finding a production primal may be more problematic.

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1. Command prompt

The virtually direct method for finding your Windows 10 product key is from the command line. Type "cmd" into the Windows 10 desktop search box and and then right-click the command line result and select "run as administrator" from the context menu. Type this command at the prompt:

wmic path softwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey

Equally you lot can see in Figure A, the command volition display your current Windows x product key.

Figure A

2. PowerShell

If y'all are using Windows 10 PowerShell, the process is similar. Correct-click the Outset Carte du jour push button and and so select Windows PowerShell (Admin) from the context menu. Type this command at the prompt to reveal the product key every bit shown in Figure B.

powershell "(Go-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey"

Figure B

3. Registry File

As yous might imagine, the product cardinal is stored in the Windows ten Registry File, and so it is possible to discover the code there if you know the right key. Type "regedit" into the Windows 10 desktop search and select the appropriate item in the results. Navigate to this key:

ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionSoftwareProtectionPlatform

As you can encounter in Effigy C, the BackupProductKeyDefault cardinal will reveal a valid Windows 10 product central.

Figure C

Note: In my case, the Windows 10 product key displayed past both the command prompt and PowerShell methods are the same. In the registry example, however, the product keys is unlike. The best caption I can suggest is that because I upgraded from Home to Pro on the example PC, the production key displayed is for the upgrade to Pro (or vice versa). If you have a ameliorate solution, please let us know in the discussion.

There are third-political party vendors offering applications that can locate and display your Windows 10 product key also, but they essentially practise the same thing we did hither without involving someone else's programming and potential security issues. Likewise, keep in listen that if you bought Windows 10 from the Microsoft Store, your account order history would have production key data bachelor.