I entered a few unused retail Win 8 product keys on clean installs to activate Win 10 before July 29th.
Is there anyway I could find the underlying product key for each of my systems?
Try ShowKey ...its made by Forum Member SuperFly
Showkey - Windows 10 blog
Thanks Kbird.
Sorry, I should have said I've already tried ShowkeyPlus and productkey.vbs
Showkey only shows the generic installed key for 10 Home, but not the original key used.
Oh , okay , it was my understanding it could do that , did you post on that thread ?
KB.
@ Kbird Showkey will find the Windows 8 Retail key on an upgrade install of Windows 10.. And if its embedded in the BIOS.
@ EightK What does showkey show for Original key? If it's not shown, or shows the generic key I think you are out of luck.
Open Windows PowerShell and enter-
(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey
@mrgeek - I tried that PS option, but returns nothing. However, it works a charm on my work PC?
@alphanumeric - the installed key ends in 8HVX7, which is the generic key. Doesn't show orignal key. I had used an unused retail 8.1 key for the clean 10 install. Would be nice to know which key I used, but I don't think it matters if I decided to use one of those keys for 8.1 does it? Or will MS activation servers detect that I've effectively used one key for two active (8.1 and 10) PCs?
This is the reason why it would be nice to know, but some say the activated 10 does not tie back to the original key used?
That key should still be usable to install 8.1. Technically, since you used it to install Windows 10, if you use it to install Windows 8.1, you should stop using the version of Windows 10 you activated with it. As far as I know though, its not enforced in any manner.
I upgraded my laptop from 8.1 Pro (MSDN Retail key) to windows 10 Pro. Then months latter, reinstalled 8.1 Pro with the original key on that laptop. It activated with no issues. I then clean installed 10 Pro on that same laptop with a skip key and it activated with no issues. The 8.1 key was not blacklisted etc. I don't "think" its tied to the Windows 10 activation in any way. No way of proving it though.
I keep a detailed list of what product keys I've used on what PC. Windows and office etc. Saves me from any guess work latter on.
Then if I have to reinstall a previous OS I can use the original key and not worry about activation issues.
Digital entitlement only uses the Win 8 key for activation - thus the need for a generic Win 10 key that gets installed.
The Win 8 key does not get stored locally, it's merely used to generate a Genuine Ticket so that the activation server can activate with a digital licence.
Having said that,with an upgrade, as with the Windows.old folder retaining system files, the previous key gets retained and can be retrieved.
(BTW: that PS script only works on Win 8.1 and later for retrieving the OEM key from the firmware)
