Or not bother because MS has it recorded and you have an image backup or two for recovery!

cheers, Paul

Paul T wrote:

Or not bother because MS has it recorded and you have an image backup or two for recovery!

cheers, Paul

What I found interesting was that the first two methods returned the key that I was expecting to see. But the key stored in the Registry was something completely different

I wonder which one MS has recorded?

The first two returned an empty OriginalProductKey value and, while the registry entry did contain a key, it was the default Win10 key that requires a digital License for activation.

Hey Y’all,

Here’s my results…

My Records Show

MinisForum UM790 Venus (Manuf. Dte: 11/20/2023) In service: 02/28/2024
SN: MY016VU79PECMHA00047
Win 11 Pro Key : XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-9QBP2 {Upgrade Key}
OEM/User Key : XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-P7JXC
Embedded Key : XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-T83XB

Method 1 Results:
C:\Windows\System32>wmic path softwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey
OA3xOriginalProductKey
XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-T83XB

Method 2 Results:
XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-T83XB
PS>

My PowerShell code to retrieve keys:

Function Get-WindowsProductKey {

  param (
          [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
            [string]$CompName
        )

  $Reg = [WMIClass] ("\\" + $CompName +
                     "\root\default:StdRegProv")
  $values = [byte[]]($reg.getbinaryvalue(2147483650,
            "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion",
            "DigitalProductId").uvalue)
  $lookup = [char[]]("B","C","D","F","G","H","J","K","M",
                     "P","Q","R","T","V","W","X","Y",
                     "2","3","4","6","7","8","9")
  $keyStartIndex      = [int]52;
  $keyEndIndex        = [int]($keyStartIndex + 15);
  $decodeLength       = [int]29
  $decodeStringLength = [int]15
  $decodedChars       = New-Object char[] $decodeLength
  $hexPid             = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList

  for ($i = $keyStartIndex; $i -le $keyEndIndex; $i++) {
    [void]$hexPid.Add($values[$i])
  }

  for ( $i = $decodeLength - 1; $i -ge 0; $i--) {

    if (($i + 1) % 6 -eq 0) {
      $decodedChars[$i] = '-'
    }
    else
    {
      $digitMapIndex = [int]0
      for ($j = $decodeStringLength - 1; $j -ge 0; $j--)
      {
       $byteValue = [int](($digitMapIndex * [int]256) -bor
                           [byte]$hexPid[$j])
       $hexPid[$j] = [byte] ([math]::Floor($byteValue / 24))
       $digitMapIndex = $byteValue % 24
       $decodedChars[$i] = $lookup[$digitMapIndex]
      }
    }
  }   #End For ($i...)

  $WindowsKey = ''
  $decodedChars | ForEach-Object { $WindowsKey += $_ }

  Return ,$WindowsKey

} #End Function ----------  Get-WindowsProductKey -------------

#------ Main -----------

  Clear-Host
  $CompSysObj = Get-CimInstance -ClassName 'Win32_ComputerSystem'
  $CurOS = Get-CimInstance -ClassName 'Win32_OperatingSystem'
 
  $CurOS = Get-CimInstance -ClassName 'Win32_OperatingSystem'
  $OSKey = Get-WindowsProductKey $CompSysObj.name

  $CIMArgs = @{ClassName = 'SoftwareLicensingService'
               ErrorAction = 'Stop'}
  Try { $EmbWinKey =
         (Get-CimInstance @CIMArgs).OA3xOriginalProductKey
      }
  Catch {$EmbWinKey = "N/A"}

  "Windows Version: $($curos.Caption)"
  "Key         : $OSKey"
  "Embedded Key: $EmbWinKey"

Results:

Windows Version: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Key         : XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-P7JXC
Embedded Key: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-T83XB

Neither one returns the actual key used to upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro!

Moral of the story KEEP GOOD RECORDS…

None worked for me:

CMD (admin) parroted the command

Powershell (admin) returned the location prompt

Registry did not have a backup key.

Zig

The article is wrong in that this doesn’t give you the “current” product key, just the key that the machine shipped with. So if you upgraded from 10 Home to 10 Pro for example, the key these commands return will be the original Home key.

Ah, that explains why the first two returned a blank value on my PC.

It wasn’t an OEM purchase but a DIY build where I had to actually purchase Windows to install it (originally Window 7 Pro, upgraded to Windows 10 Pro.)

n0ads wrote:

Ah, that explains why the first two returned a blank value on my PC.

It wasn’t an OEM purchase but a DIY build where I had to actually purchase Windows to install it (originally Window 7 Pro, upgraded to Windows 10 Pro.)

Exactly, self-builds or devices which didn’t ship with Windows 8 or later will return blank values.

OIC – exactly my situation (home build, Win v.8.1, immediately updated to Win 10).

Zig