3 Easy Ways to Find Your Windows 10 Product Key

Your Windows 10 product key should be listed on a sticker located somewhere on your computer’s hardware, usually in the most inaccessible place possible. But before you crawl behind your desk looking for a 25-digit alphanumeric code in small print on the back of your PC, there are less painful ways to find your Windows 10 product key.

This tutorial shows you how to find your Windows 10 product key using the power of the operating system. We have also published guidance on how to find your product key in Windows 11.

How to find your Windows 10 product key

The success of each of these methods depends largely on how your PC was activated. If you activated Windows 10 by upgrading from a valid installation of Windows 7 or 8 or with the recent purchase of the computer, you will likely find the product key with most of these methods. However, if your PC was activated under an organization’s licensing agreement, finding a product key may be more problematic.

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1. Command Prompt

The most direct method to find your Windows 10 product key is to use the command line.

1. Type cmd in the Windows 10 desktop search box.
2. Next, right-click the command line output.
3. Select Run as administrator from the context menu.
4. Type this command at the prompt:

wmic path softwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey

As you can see in Figure AThe command will display your current Windows 10 product key.

Figure A

2. PowerShell

If you use Windows 10 PowerShellthe process is similar:

1. Right-click the Start menu button.
2. Select Windows PowerShell (Administrator) from the context menu.
3. Type this command at the prompt to reveal the product key (Figure B).

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

Figure B

3. Registry file

As you can imagine, the product key is stored in the Windows 10 registry file, so it is possible to find the code there if you know the correct key. To do this:

1. Type regedit in the Windows 10 desktop search and select the appropriate item from the results.
2. Access this key:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform

As you can see in Figure CThe BackupProductKeyDefault key will reveal a valid Windows 10 product key.

Figure C

Note: In my case, the Windows 10 product key displayed by the Command Prompt and PowerShell methods is the same; in the registry example, the product key is different. The best explanation I can suggest is that because I upgraded from Home to Pro on the example PC, the product key shown is for upgrading to Pro or vice versa. If you have a better solution, please let us know.

SEE: Windows 10 and 11 in S mode: what is it and should you use it?

Other ways to find your Windows 10 product key

There are third-party vendors offering apps that can locate and display your Windows 10 product key as well, but they essentially do the same thing we’ve done here without involving anyone else’s programming or the hassles of potential security.

Additionally, keep in mind that if you purchased Windows 10 from the Microsoft Store, your account’s order history will contain product key information.