{"id":841292,"date":"2026-10-29T10:28:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T10:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euroshopkey.com\/?page_id=841292"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:28:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T10:28:24","slug":"find-windows-product-key","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euroshopkey.com\/fi\/find-windows-product-key\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Find Your Windows Product Key (and Your Office Key)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Find your Windows product key: where to look first<\/h2>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>In the motherboard (UEFI)<\/strong>: PCs sold with Windows preinstalled carry their key in the firmware, and a simple command displays it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>In your Microsoft account<\/strong>: since Windows 10, activation often takes the form of a digital license linked to your hardware and to your account.<\/li>\n<li><strong>In a purchase email<\/strong>: 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h2>Show your Windows key with CMD or PowerShell<\/h2>\n<p>These commands are built into Windows 10 and Windows 11. They change nothing: they only read the license information already stored on the machine.<\/p>\n<h3>The CMD command (wmic)<\/h3>\n<p>Type &#8220;cmd&#8221; in the Start menu, choose &#8220;Run as administrator&#8221;, then enter:<\/p>\n<p><code>wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey<\/code><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h3>The PowerShell equivalent<\/h3>\n<p>On the latest versions of Windows 11, wmic may be missing. Right-click the Start button, open &#8220;Terminal (Admin)&#8221; (&#8220;Windows PowerShell (Admin)&#8221; on Windows 10) and run:<\/p>\n<p><code>(Get-CimInstance -ClassName SoftwareLicensingService).OA3xOriginalProductKey<\/code><\/p>\n<h3>Check the key actually in use (slmgr)<\/h3>\n<p>The UEFI key is not necessarily the one activating your system, especially if you installed a license bought separately. The command <code>slmgr \/dli<\/code> 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.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Command<\/th>\n<th>What it shows<\/th>\n<th>Its limit<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><code>wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey<\/code><\/td>\n<td>The key stored in the UEFI by the manufacturer<\/td>\n<td>Empty if no key is preinstalled; wmic is missing from the latest versions of Windows 11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><code>(Get-CimInstance -ClassName SoftwareLicensingService).OA3xOriginalProductKey<\/code><\/td>\n<td>The same UEFI key, through PowerShell<\/td>\n<td>Empty in the same cases<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><code>slmgr \/dli<\/code><\/td>\n<td>Edition, activation status and last five characters of the active key<\/td>\n<td>Never shows the full key<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Digital license or product key: check your Microsoft account<\/h2>\n<p>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 &gt; System &gt; Activation.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Criterion<\/th>\n<th>Product key<\/th>\n<th>Digital license<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Form<\/td>\n<td>25-character code to type in<\/td>\n<td>No code: the right is recorded online<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Where to find it<\/td>\n<td>Purchase email, UEFI (wmic), product box<\/td>\n<td>Settings &gt; System &gt; Activation, Microsoft account<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>After a reinstall<\/td>\n<td>Enter the key during or after installation<\/td>\n<td>Automatic reactivation, especially with a linked Microsoft account<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Typical case<\/td>\n<td>Windows 11 key bought online<\/td>\n<td>Laptop sold with Windows preinstalled<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>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 <a href=\"\/windows-activation\/\">Windows activation guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Link the license to your account<\/h3>\n<p>Open Settings &gt; System &gt; Activation. If the page says &#8220;Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account&#8221;, the link is already in place. Otherwise, sign in to Windows with your account (Settings &gt; Accounts &gt; Your info): the license is attached to it and will follow you through reinstalls on the same PC.<\/p>\n<h3>See your devices on account.microsoft.com<\/h3>\n<p>On account.microsoft.com, the &#8220;Devices&#8221; 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.<\/p>\n<h3>Reactivate after a hardware change<\/h3>\n<p>Replacing the motherboard can switch Windows to &#8220;not activated&#8221;. Go back to Settings &gt; System &gt; Activation, run the activation troubleshooter, choose &#8220;I changed hardware on this device recently&#8221;, then select your PC in the list: the digital license linked to the account applies again without typing any key. Our guide to <a href=\"\/windows-not-activated-after-motherboard-change\/\">Windows not activated after a motherboard change<\/a> covers error 0xC004F211.<\/p>\n<h2>How to find your Office product key<\/h2>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h3>The purchase email<\/h3>\n<p>This is your first lead. Search your inbox for &#8220;Office&#8221; or for the seller&#8217;s name, without forgetting the spam folder. At Euro Shop Key, the key for <a href=\"\/product\/microsoft-office-2024-pro-plus\/\">Microsoft Office 2024 Pro Plus<\/a> is in the delivery email: keep it safe.<\/p>\n<h3>The Microsoft account<\/h3>\n<p>If the key was linked to an account during installation, it remains visible under &#8220;Services &amp; subscriptions&#8221; on account.microsoft.com, with the option to download Office again.<\/p>\n<h3>The verification command<\/h3>\n<p>To identify the key that activates your Office, this command shows its last five characters:<\/p>\n<p><code>cscript \"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Office16\\OSPP.VBS\" \/dstatus<\/code><\/p>\n<p>Replace &#8220;Program Files&#8221; with &#8220;Program Files (x86)&#8221; 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 <a href=\"\/office-activation\/\">Office activation guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>New PC, reinstall or key still missing?<\/h2>\n<h3>Changing computers or formatting<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Changing computers?<\/strong> Whether a license can move depends on its terms: a license preinstalled by the PC maker stays with that machine. Our guide to <a href=\"\/transfer-windows-license-to-new-pc\/\">transferring a Windows license to a new PC<\/a> explains how to check yours and what to do.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Formatting the same PC?<\/strong> Note your key first with the commands above, then follow the guide to <a href=\"\/format-reinstall-windows-11-complete-guide\/\">formatting and reinstalling Windows 11<\/a>. A digital license comes back on its own after installation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>One last reflex: the product box or the PC label<\/h3>\n<p>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 &#8220;Certificate of Authenticity&#8221; 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.<\/p>\n<h3>Start again with a new license at a low price<\/h3>\n<p>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:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/product\/windows-11-pro\/\">Windows 11 Pro<\/a>: {prix:windows-11-pro}<\/li>\n<li>Windows 10 Pro: {prix:windows-10-pro}<\/li>\n<li>Microsoft Office 2024 Pro Plus: {prix:microsoft-office-2024-pro-plus}<\/li>\n<li>Windows 11 Pro + Office 2021 Pro Plus bundle: {prix:windows-11-pro-office-2021-pro-plus-bundle}<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The key arrives by email within minutes, activates on Microsoft&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Above all, a key bought here is never really lost: it stays in your delivery email, and <a href=\"\/support\/\">our support team<\/a> sends that email again on request if you misplace it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-841292","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euroshopkey.com\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/841292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euroshopkey.com\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euroshopkey.com\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euroshopkey.com\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euroshopkey.com\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/euroshopkey.com\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/841292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euroshopkey.com\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}