How to Find Your Windows Product Key (and Your Office Key)

Find your Windows product key: where to look first

To find your Windows product key, start by knowing what you are looking for: a 25-character code in the format XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX that proves your right to use the system. Before assuming it is lost, check these three places: it is almost always in one of them.

• In the motherboard (UEFI): PCs sold with Windows preinstalled carry their key in the firmware, and a simple command displays it.
• In your Microsoft account: since Windows 10, activation often takes the form of a digital license linked to your hardware and to your account.
• In a purchase email: if the license was bought online, the key is in the delivery message. At Euro Shop Key, it arrives by email within minutes of your order.

Here is how to follow each lead, with the exact commands. There is no need to install a third-party tool: everything uses tools already built into Windows.

Show your Windows key with CMD or PowerShell

These commands are built into Windows 10 and Windows 11. They change nothing: they only read the license information already stored on the machine.

The CMD command (wmic)

Type “cmd” in the Start menu, choose “Run as administrator”, then enter:

wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey

The key displayed is the one the manufacturer stored in the UEFI. If the line stays empty, nothing is broken: your PC has no preinstalled key, or its activation relies on a digital license.

The PowerShell equivalent

On the latest versions of Windows 11, wmic may be missing. Right-click the Start button, open “Terminal (Admin)” (“Windows PowerShell (Admin)” on Windows 10) and run:

(Get-CimInstance -ClassName SoftwareLicensingService).OA3xOriginalProductKey

Check the key actually in use (slmgr)

The UEFI key is not necessarily the one activating your system, especially if you installed a license bought separately. The command slmgr /dli shows the edition, the activation status and the last five characters of the key in use: enough to match it with a key kept in an email.

Digital license or product key: check your Microsoft account

Many recent PCs simply have no key to find: their activation relies on a digital license, a right recorded by Microsoft and tied to the hardware. To see which case applies to you, open Settings > System > Activation.

The two mechanisms meet: a Windows 11 product key entered once becomes a digital license after the first activation. All the more reason to keep the email that contains the original key. The step-by-step procedure is in our Windows activation guide.

Link the license to your account

Open Settings > System > Activation. If the page says “Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account”, the link is already in place. Otherwise, sign in to Windows with your account (Settings > Accounts > Your info): the license is attached to it and will follow you through reinstalls on the same PC.

See your devices on account.microsoft.com

On account.microsoft.com, the “Devices” section lists the computers linked to your account. Before formatting or selling a PC, it is the right place to check that the machine is listed and to remove the PCs you no longer use.

Reactivate after a hardware change

Replacing the motherboard can switch Windows to “not activated”. Go back to Settings > System > Activation, run the activation troubleshooter, choose “I changed hardware on this device recently”, then select your PC in the list: the digital license linked to the account applies again without typing any key. Our guide to Windows not activated after a motherboard change covers error 0xC004F211.

How to find your Office product key

Recent versions of Office never keep the full key on the computer in readable form. To find an Office 2021 or Office 2024 key, you have three leads.

The purchase email

This is your first lead. Search your inbox for “Office” or for the seller’s name, without forgetting the spam folder. At Euro Shop Key, the key for Microsoft Office 2024 Pro Plus is in the delivery email: keep it safe.

The Microsoft account

If the key was linked to an account during installation, it remains visible under “Services & subscriptions” on account.microsoft.com, with the option to download Office again.

The verification command

To identify the key that activates your Office, this command shows its last five characters:

cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus

Replace “Program Files” with “Program Files (x86)” if you run 32-bit Office on 64-bit Windows, then compare the result with the key in your email. Activation itself is covered in our Office activation guide.

New PC, reinstall or key still missing?

Changing computers or formatting

• Changing computers? Whether a license can move depends on its terms: a license preinstalled by the PC maker stays with that machine. Our guide to transferring a Windows license to a new PC explains how to check yours and what to do.
• Formatting the same PC? Note your key first with the commands above, then follow the guide to formatting and reinstalling Windows 11. A digital license comes back on its own after installation.

One last reflex: the product box or the PC label

Before concluding that the key is lost, think of physical media. Versions bought in a box contain a card with the key, sometimes under a scratch-off area. Computers from the Windows 7 generation and earlier often carry a “Certificate of Authenticity” sticker: on the side of the case for a tower, under the chassis or in the battery compartment for a laptop. If you find a label that is still legible, take a photo of it right away: the print fades over the years.

Start again with a new license at a low price

Dead PC, deleted mailbox, unreadable label: when every lead is exhausted, there is no point spending the day on it. A new license costs little:

• Windows 11 Pro: 9,90 €
• Windows 10 Pro: 9,90 €
• Microsoft Office 2024 Pro Plus: 24,90 €
• Windows 11 Pro + Office 2021 Pro Plus bundle: 24,90 €

The key arrives by email within minutes, activates on Microsoft’s official servers and stays valid for life, like any perpetual one-time-purchase license. Payment is secure, by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Bancontact.

Above all, a key bought here is never really lost: it stays in your delivery email, and our support team sends that email again on request if you misplace it.