License key in BIOS. How to find out OEM Windows activation key from BIOS

Manufacturers of modern laptops and computers are actively abandoning disk drives, since any program or game can be downloaded from the Internet, and the presence of a drive only makes the PC more expensive for the end buyer. At the same time, users who are accustomed to receiving a disk with Windows and a license key included with their computer find it difficult to reinstall the operating system. While Windows itself can be installed from a flash drive, you will still need a license key for it. In this case, users have a question: how to find out the Windows product key that was preinstalled on a laptop (desktop computer), or was installed later from a disk that is not currently available? This can be done using both Windows and third-party programs.

When asking yourself the question of determining the license key of the operating system running on your computer, you should understand such concepts as Installed Key and OEM Key. Essentially, they are both Windows license keys, but there are some differences between them. The way they are determined also differs.

Installed Key is the installation key of the operating system running on the computer. It can be detected on those laptops and desktop computers on which Windows was installed by users themselves from a disk or as a digital copy purchased via the Internet and activated.

The OEM Key is the license key for the version of Windows that was originally installed on the computer. The OEM key information is hardwired into the motherboard of your laptop or desktop computer and cannot be changed.

Thus, if the computer was installed with the Windows 8 operating system at the time of purchase, which was later updated to Windows 10, the information about the OEM and Installed keys will be different. At the same time, if you want to install Windows 8 on a new computer, you will need to enter the OEM key - only it will work with this version of the operating system. Installed Key is suitable if you want to install Windows 10.

Attention: You can use the existing OEM or Installed key only for the version of the operating system that is installed on the computer. You cannot enter a key from the Basic version of Windows 10 for the Professional build.

How to find out the Windows 10 key using the operating system?

On any computer, with administrator rights, you can find out the Windows 10 license key without third-party programs and applications. However, the procedures are different in the case of determining OEM and Installed keys.

Finding out the license key of the operating system that is “hardwired” into the computer’s motherboard is very simple if you know the command that is specifically provided for this in Windows 10. To determine the OEM key, do the following:

The OEM-issued key can be used to reinstall the version of the operating system that was originally installed on the computer.

Using one command, it is not possible to determine the Installed Key, and it is hidden a little deeper in the Windows operating system. But if you wish, you can get information about the Windows license key without installing third-party applications on your computer. To do this you need to do the following:

1. Launch an empty standard Windows Notepad, which can be found at the following path: “Start” - “All Applications” - “Windows Accessories” - “Notepad”.
2. Copy the following code into an open text editor program:

function Get-WindowsKey ( param ($targets = ".") $hklm = 2147483650 $regPath = "Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" $regValue = "DigitalProductId" Foreach ($target in $targets) { $productKey = $null $win32os = $null $wmi = "\\$target\root\default:stdRegProv" $data = $wmi.GetBinaryValue($hklm,$regPath,$regValue) $binArray = ($data.uValue) $charsArray = "B","C","D","F","G","H","J","K","M","P","Q","R","T","V","W","X","Y","2","3","4","6","7","8","9" ## decrypt base24 encoded binary data For ($i = 24; $i -ge 0; $i--) { $k = 0 For ($j = 14; $j -ge 0; $j--) { $k = $k * 256 -bxor $binArray[$j] $binArray[$j] = ::truncate($k / 24) $k = $k % 24 } $productKey = $charsArray[$k] + $productKey If (($i % 5 -eq 0) -and ($i -ne 0)) { $productKey = "-" + $productKey } } $win32os = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -computer $target $obj = New-Object Object $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Computer -value $target $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Caption -value $win32os.Caption $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty CSDVersion -value $win32os.CSDVersion $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty OSArch -value $win32os.OSArchitecture $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty BuildNumber -value $win32os.BuildNumber $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty RegisteredTo -value $win32os.RegisteredUser $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty ProductID -value $win32os.SerialNumber $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty ProductKey -value $productkey $obj } } !}

Please note that the Installed Key is displayed in the “Product Key” item. Also, following the steps described above allows you to find out some details about the operating system used on the computer.

How to find out Windows keys using third-party programs?

From the instructions above you can see that finding out the OEM Key Windows is very simple, but “getting” to the Installed Key is much more difficult, and the procedure for detecting it using Windows tools takes a lot of time. If you don’t want to do this, you can install a third-party application that will independently detect information about the OEM Key and Installed Key on the computer, and then give it to the PC administrator.

ShowKeyPlus is considered one of the simplest and most convenient programs for determining the Windows key. It can be downloaded from the official website of the developers absolutely free. At the same time, the program not only shows information about the license keys of the version of Windows used, but also allows users to save the received information in a txt document.

1. Hello dear administrators! Question: how can I find out the OEM key for a licensed Windows 8.1 laptop if it does not have a hard drive? Or in other words, how can you find out the Windows 8.1 key embedded in the laptop’s BIOS? My problem is that my hard drive failed and I bought a new one, now I want to install Windows 8.1 Single Language pre-installed from the store on it, but I’m afraid that the system is not activated automatically during installation. I read on the Internet that using some programs you can find out the Windows 8.1 key,“hardwired” into the laptop’s BIOS and the key is saved in any case, for the entire life of the laptop.
2. Hello admin! I bought a laptop a year ago, then it had Windows 8 installed, which I immediately tore down and installed Windows 7, but now I’m thinking about returning Windows 8, but I don’t know the license key, can I look it up somewhere? Previously, the Windows key was printed on the bottom of the laptop, but now it is not there.

How to find out the OEM key of a licensed Windows 8.1 laptop if it does not have a hard drive. Or in other words, how to find out the Windows 8.1 key “hardwired” into the laptop’s BIOS

Hello friends! With the advent of laptops with pre-installed Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and UEFI BIOS, Microsoft changed the rules for distributing licensed copies of Windows; now the operating system license key is no longer on the sticker located on the bottom of the laptop; from now on, the key is “sewn” in text form into the ACPI MSD table of the BIOS laptop. What to do, these are the new rules and according to them, an ordinary user does not need to know the key of the operating system installed on his laptop.

Despite this, you can view the contents of ACPI tables and find out the Windows 8.1 key in the BIOS using various utilities: RWEverything, OemKey, ShowKeyPlus, ProduKey. If your laptop boots, then these utilities can be launched directly in a running Windows and it doesn’t matter what operating system you currently have installed: Windows 7 or Windows 10, regardless of this, any of the programs I listed considers the Windows 8.1 key from the BIOS.

You can also find out the key if the laptop does not have a hard drive at all, in this case we will have to boot the laptop from a bootable flash drive Live CD AOMEI PE Builder, this flash drive contains all the programs I mentioned, in today’s article I will show you how to create such a flash drive.

• Note: If you look at the question from the other side, then it is not at all necessary for an ordinary user to recognize the Windows 8.1 key embedded in the laptop’s BIOS, and here’s why. The fact is that when you install on a laptop exactly the version of the operating system that was preinstalled on it from the store (in most cases, Windows 8.1 Single Language), the key will be inserted automatically during system installation and you will not need to enter anything. In other words, know the registered key You do not need to enter the ACPI MSD table of the laptop BIOS under any circumstances, even if you replace the hard drive on the laptop. I wrote about all this in detail in this.

For example, let's take a laptop with Windows 8.1 pre-installed from the store, delete everything from the hard drive and install another Windows 10 operating system, and then run our utilities and find out the Win 8.1 key registered in the BIOS.

Download all programs in one archive on my cloud storage.

So, let's look at the Windows 8.1 key registered in the BIOS with the programs: ShowKeyPlus, OemKey, RWEverything, ProduKey.

The first program in line is ShowKeyPlus

The program displays detailed information.

Product Name(The version of the operating system currently installed on the laptop) - Windows 10 Single Language.

Product ID: Product ID.

Installed Key: Key for Windows 10 Single Language currently installed on the laptop.

OEM Key: TO Windows 8.1 key, registered into the ACPI MSD table of the laptop BIOS (what we need is the key embedded in the BIOS).

OEM Edition: Operating system version ( Windows 8.1 Single Language) preinstalled at the factory by the laptop manufacturer. This is the version that the key will fit into ( OEM Key) and it will be entered automatically during system installation, that is, you will not have to enter it.

OemKey program

It only shows the Windows 8.1 key embedded in the laptop's BIOS.

RWEverything program

Go to the program folder and run the executable file Rw.exe.

Click on the button ACPI.

Click on the MSDM button and see the Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 key.

ProduKey program

The ProduKey program, already familiar to you from our previous articles, will also cope with the task of determining the key embedded in the BIOS of a laptop.

The utility shows two keys, the first is an OEM key registered to the ACPI MSD table of the laptop BIOS, and the second, the key of the currently installed Windows 10.

How to find out the OEM key of a licensed Windows 8.1 laptop if it does not have a hard drive?

Create a bootable USB flash drive Live CD AOMEI PE Builder

Friends, in this case, we need to boot the laptop from the AOMEI PE Builder Live CD bootable flash drive. Download the flash drive image from my cloud storage.

After downloading the ISO image, we launch the program, which is what we will use to create a bootable USB flash drive.

In the main window of the WinSetupFromUSB program, select our flash drive (be careful, all data on the flash drive will be deleted).

Put a tick on the item Auto format it with FBinst and check the FAT32 box.

Check the box Vista/7/8/Server 2008/2012 based ISO and click on the button on the right that opens the explorer window.

Explorer opens, find the ISO image of the Live CD AOMEI PE Builder, select it with the left mouse and click "Open".

Each licensed copy of the Windows 10 operating system has a unique key, which indicates the activation of the installed version. The key consists of 25 characters, including English letters and numbers. Without this code and entering it into the system, your OS will be available within 30 days from the date of installation. After this, the computer will remind you of the need to activate, and after a while it will stop booting altogether. Below you can read about how to find out the Windows 10 product key, what types of keys there are and what they are needed for.

There are two types of operating system serial numbers:

• OEM key is “hardwired” into the motherboard memory by default, since the OS was installed by the manufacturer;
• Product Key. This key applies to the installed digital version of the product.

Due to the differences between the two types of serial numbers, confusion can sometimes arise. For example, if you uninstall the pre-installed copy of the OS and then install your own version, the OEM and Product keys will not match.

Why do you need a key?

Before the release of the “ten,” Microsoft developers used a simpler method to determine a unique code. The serial number for the pre-installed version of the operating system was always located on a sticker on the back of the laptop or PC case. With the advent of Windows 10 and the spread of digital versions, it was decided to abandon this idea.

Now owners of the “Ten” have to use non-trivial solutions to determine the serial key. You will need the number if you decide to reinstall a licensed copy of the OS on your computer. When using a pirated version, this operation is not required, since activation is carried out using a special program. You can also purchase a Windows 10 license through the official Microsoft website.

How to check if Windows 10 is activated?

Before searching for the key in the system, check that your copy is activated. It's very easy to do. To resolve the issue, follow these steps:

1. Right click on the shortcut "This computer" on the desktop and in the context menu, select .

1. In the window that opens, you will see information about your system (technical data, performance rating, etc.). In the subsection "ActivationWindows" there should be an inscription: "ActivationWindows done", as shown in the screenshot:

You can open the same window using the keyboard shortcut Win + Pause/Break

Now you know how to check whether the installed copy of the OS is activated. Now you can start searching for a license key for your Windows 10.

Where can I find my Windows 10 key?

You can find the activation key using standard OS tools and third-party programs. Let's look at all the methods in more detail:

• VBS script;
• extended command line (PowerShell);
• ProduKey program;
• ShowKeyPlus;
• extract from UEFI;
• applications for collecting system data.

Finding the key through scripts

This method looks at finding a license key using Visual Basic Script. It differs from the regular command line in that the result of the script is visualized in a separate window. You can download the script from . If you encounter any difficulties with the download, do not worry - you can create such a script yourself.

First, you need to create a document in Notepad with the following. Then save the file to any location on your computer with .vbs resolution and any name in English. To change the extension, you must first save the text document and then change the resolution using the rename function. Next, you need to launch the file by simply clicking on it. The system should show the OEM key on the desktop in a separate window, as shown in the screenshot. Click OK, after which you will see more detailed information about the installed version of the operating system:

The method works for 32-bit and 64-bit systems, as well as for all versions of Windows 10, including Home and Pro.

PowerShell

The second way to obtain a key using the built-in functionality is to use the PowerShell command line, which is only available on Windows 10 (x64). With its help you will receive information about the Product Key, that is, the current OS version number.

1. Launch Notepad and copy the text from . After that, save the file to any folder with the extension .ps. Now you need to run PowerShell as an administrator. To do this, go to the search and enter the name in English (1). Now right-click on the icon and select from the menu "Run as administrator" (3).

1. In the command prompt window, enter the command Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned and press Enter on your keyboard. Next, you need to specify the path to the file with the extension .ps1. If you saved it directly to your desktop, the command will look like this:

C:\Users\your username\Desktop\winkey.ps1

The Installed Key line will indicate the 25-digit code of your operating system. You can save it to a separate text file. Now let's figure out where to check the serial number for the OEM version of the OS.

We take out the key from UEFI

This method will allow you to find the OEM Key.

1. First, open the command line as an administrator:

At the command prompt, enter the combination and press Enter.

The same action can be performed via PowerShell. Open PowerShell again using the method described earlier and enter the command ( Get-WmiObject -query "select * from SoftwareLicensingService").

Now you know how to check your license using the built-in operating system tools. Let's move on to third-party tools.

ProduKey

To install the program, go to

Other applications

If you want to receive information not only about the OS license, but also about the entire PC, you can use one of the following programs:

• AIDA 64;
• Everest;
• SIW and the like.

Software in this category allows you to find out everything about the software and hardware installed in your computer. The information also includes serial numbers. Finding them is not that difficult.

For example, let's take the program. On the main screen, tap the button OperatingSystem(1). On the right side of the program you will see SerialNumber(2). In a similar way, you can find the serial number through the other programs listed above.

conclusions

There are numerous ways to find the Product Key or OEM Key of an installed operating system. The article describes everything so that the user can use it by choosing the method independently. If a method doesn’t work for you or you don’t understand the procedure for performing it, just move on to another! The easiest way is to use automated software such as ProduKey and others. More experienced users will easily cope with scripts and the command line (PowerShell).

Video instruction

1. Hello dear administrators! Question: how can I find out the OEM key for a licensed Windows 8.1 laptop if it does not have a hard drive? Or in other words, how can you find out the Windows 8.1 key embedded in the laptop’s BIOS? My problem is that my hard drive failed and I bought a new one, now I want to install Windows 8.1 Single Language pre-installed from the store on it, but I’m afraid that the system is not activated automatically during installation. I read on the Internet that using some programs you can find out the Windows 8.1 key,“hardwired” into the laptop’s BIOS and the key is saved in any case, for the entire life of the laptop.
2. Hello admin! I bought a laptop a year ago, then it had Windows 8 installed, which I immediately tore down and installed Windows 7, but now I’m thinking about returning Windows 8, but I don’t know the license key, can I look it up somewhere? Previously, the Windows key was printed on the bottom of the laptop, but now it is not there.

How to find out the OEM key of a licensed Windows 8.1 laptop if it does not have a hard drive. Or in other words, how to find out the Windows 8.1 key “hardwired” into the laptop’s BIOS

Hello friends! With the advent of laptops with pre-installed Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and UEFI BIOS, Microsoft changed the rules for distributing licensed copies of Windows; now the operating system license key is no longer on the sticker located on the bottom of the laptop; from now on, the key is “sewn” in text form into the ACPI MSD table of the BIOS laptop. What to do, these are the new rules and according to them, an ordinary user does not need to know the key of the operating system installed on his laptop.

Despite this, you can view the contents of ACPI tables and find out the Windows 8.1 key in the BIOS using various utilities: RWEverything, OemKey, ShowKeyPlus, ProduKey. If your laptop boots, then these utilities can be launched directly in a running Windows and it doesn’t matter what operating system you currently have installed: Windows 7 or Windows 10, regardless of this, any of the programs I listed considers the Windows 8.1 key from the BIOS.

You can also find out the key if the laptop does not have a hard drive at all, in this case we will have to boot the laptop from a bootable flash drive Live CD AOMEI PE Builder, this flash drive contains all the programs I mentioned, in today’s article I will show you how to create such a flash drive.

• Note: If you look at the question from the other side, then it is not at all necessary for an ordinary user to recognize the Windows 8.1 key embedded in the laptop’s BIOS, and here’s why. The fact is that when you install on a laptop exactly the version of the operating system that was preinstalled on it from the store (in most cases, Windows 8.1 Single Language), the key will be inserted automatically during system installation and you will not need to enter anything. In other words, know the registered key You do not need to enter the ACPI MSD table of the laptop BIOS under any circumstances, even if you replace the hard drive on the laptop. I wrote about all this in detail in this.

For example, let's take a laptop with Windows 8.1 pre-installed from the store, delete everything from the hard drive and install another Windows 10 operating system, and then run our utilities and find out the Win 8.1 key registered in the BIOS.

Download all programs in one archive on my cloud storage.

So, let's look at the Windows 8.1 key registered in the BIOS with the programs: ShowKeyPlus, OemKey, RWEverything, ProduKey.

The first program in line is ShowKeyPlus

The program displays detailed information.

Product Name(The version of the operating system currently installed on the laptop) - Windows 10 Single Language.

Product ID: Product ID.

Installed Key: Key for Windows 10 Single Language currently installed on the laptop.

OEM Key: TO Windows 8.1 key, registered into the ACPI MSD table of the laptop BIOS (what we need is the key embedded in the BIOS).

OEM Edition: Operating system version ( Windows 8.1 Single Language) preinstalled at the factory by the laptop manufacturer. This is the version that the key will fit into ( OEM Key) and it will be entered automatically during system installation, that is, you will not have to enter it.

OemKey program

It only shows the Windows 8.1 key embedded in the laptop's BIOS.

RWEverything program

Go to the program folder and run the executable file Rw.exe.

Click on the button ACPI.

Click on the MSDM button and see the Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 key.

ProduKey program

The ProduKey program, already familiar to you from our previous articles, will also cope with the task of determining the key embedded in the BIOS of a laptop.

The utility shows two keys, the first is an OEM key registered to the ACPI MSD table of the laptop BIOS, and the second, the key of the currently installed Windows 10.

How to find out the OEM key of a licensed Windows 8.1 laptop if it does not have a hard drive?

Create a bootable USB flash drive Live CD AOMEI PE Builder

Friends, in this case, we need to boot the laptop from the AOMEI PE Builder Live CD bootable flash drive. Download the flash drive image from my cloud storage.

After downloading the ISO image, we launch the program, which is what we will use to create a bootable USB flash drive.

In the main window of the WinSetupFromUSB program, select our flash drive (be careful, all data on the flash drive will be deleted).

Put a tick on the item Auto format it with FBinst and check the FAT32 box.

Check the box Vista/7/8/Server 2008/2012 based ISO and click on the button on the right that opens the explorer window.

Explorer opens, find the ISO image of the Live CD AOMEI PE Builder, select it with the left mouse and click "Open".

Many people are prompted to read this material by a very standard and common situation: you once bought a laptop with a licensed Windows 7 or 8 operating system installed. After a certain time, due to the need to reinstall Windows or for any other reason, you need the activation key that was indicated on the sticker , which is located on the bottom of the laptop, but over the months and years of use of the laptop, it has long been worn out or completely peeled off. What should I do?

If your PC is running Windows with an activated license key, then “getting” it from the operating system will not be difficult. If by icon My computer right click and open Properties, then below we will only see code of product, and not the activation key itself. It is also important to distinguish between what you need to get - just the code that was indicated on a special sticker or the code for Windows 8, which is in the computer's BIOS.

Screenshot of My Computer properties

For Win8 from BIOS using RWEverything

To extract the OEM license key Windows 8 From the BIOS of a laptop or desktop computer, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with it - in it we looked at how to use a program to get a key for Win8 from a new type of BIOS: UEFI. This method is also relevant for those who are trying to recover the key if another OS was installed instead of the licensed Windows 8 “from the store”.

Screenshot of the RWEverything program

Windows activation key in AIDA64

If you need an activation key for an installed and working system, you can use the program we are already familiar with to fully diagnose your PC - go ahead, get acquainted, download and install. Then run the program and open the tab operating system. In chapter License information in field Product Key and the required Windows activation code will be indicated.

Screenshot of the AIDA64 program

In AIDA64, as in RWEverything, you can see the key hardcoded into the BIOS. To do this, go to the tab Motherboard, then ACPI. In chapter Description of the table we'll find MSDM and in the field SLS Data The 25-character Windows activation code we need will be written.

AIDA64 screen

Finding an activation key via KeyFinder

A simple utility from Magical Jelly Bean. This small program does not take up much space and provides only the bare minimum of information, but that is exactly what we need. You can download KeyFinder from here (the official website of the developers), it is available in two versions - the free one is enough for us. Download, install, launch. In the left window, select the software for which you need to find out the activation key - in this case we are interested in Windows 7 Home Premium. CD Key and there is the required code.

Screenshot of KeyFinder

Instead of a conclusion

This list could be continued endlessly, since there are at least a dozen more popular utilities for solving the same problem, but I believe that the set provided will be enough for you. There are also various scripts on the Internet that use VBScript or PowerShell to extract keys without installing unnecessary programs. Everyone chooses the method that is more convenient for them.