How to find Windows 10 product key?

If you upgraded from Windows 7 or 8, Windows 10 will have activated automatically after connecting to Microsoft’s servers online. You didn’t need to enter a product key as you were entitled to Windows 10 by virtue of having a genuine consumer copy of Windows 7 or 8.

However, there are a few instances where you’ll need your product key. If you’ve upgraded from Windows 7 or 8 and plan to upgrade your PC components, thus wiping your hard drive, you’ll need your Windows 10 product key.

If you’re installing a new system all together, then you’ll also need your Windows 10 product key.

Both the above scenarios involve a fresh install of Windows, and despite Microsoft adding the Activation Troubleshooter tool in the Anniversary Update (find it in Settings > Update & Security > Activation), you might be stuck between a rock and a hard place if you haven’t already extracted your Windows 10 key.

How can I extract my Windows 10 product key?

If you bought a PC, laptop or tablet running Windows 10 then it should have a sticker or Certificate of Authenticity which contains the product key, or be included somewhere with the packaging or documentation that came with it.

He said that the product key was semi-visible on the System screen in Windows: most is redacted with only the last 5 of the digits shown.

If you’ve purchased a boxed copy of Windows 10, it will be on a label in the box. If you bought a digital copy of Windows 10 online from Microsoft, you should have received the product key in an email.

If however you’ve not got any of the above, you can always extract your Windows 10 product key using Product Key, which is free software that displays your product key on various software installed on your machine.

Since Microsoft has your computer’s ‘digital signature’ from the initial upgrade it recognises the combination of components when you do a clean install and automatically activates Windows. This means you can safely skip the screen which asks for a product key at the start of the installation process.Windows 10 should activate as long as you haven’t made any major changes to your PC. Upgrading from a hard disk to an SSD won’t affect anything, nor will changing your graphics card. However, upgrading your motherboard and processor will probably count as ‘significant’ and you’ll have to ring Microsoft’s support line if you find that Windows is no longer activated, or you’re reinstalling it.

How do I check if Windows 10 is activated?

Right-click on the Start button and choose System from the menu that appears. Under Windows Activation, you should see “Windows is activated”. Note: If you have the Creators Update installed, you’ll see a slightly different screen: click on  ‘About’ at the bottom of the left-hand menu, then on the ‘Change product key or upgrade your edition of Windows’ link.

Then you’ll see the status: