Find Out What Type of Windows Product Key You Have

Find Out What Type of Windows Product Key You Have
I get asked all the time from people "is there a way to know what type of product key I have" Yes, here is how to do it.

Open command prompt as administrator and run these commands.

Commands:
slmgr /xpr

what type of windows product key do you have?
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[Britec]

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[fido]

Right from Microsoft "if your copy Windows is activated by the key, the key is legitimate".

[Steveh]

Great information! I was recently given an HP PC with a quad core processor which previously ran Windows 7, but the previous owner removed and destroyed the hard drive for security reasons. So I bought a new hard drive online and installed Windows 10 Professional. I bought a cheap key online because that's all I can afford, and I was curious how genuine it is. I paid $15 for the product key, and surprisingly it came up as "Retail" and "Permanent Activation" using the commands shown in this video. So I got lucky with my purchase! Prior to watching this video, I had no idea how to check these things, or that they could even be checked. This new pc with an AMD Athlon 630 quad core is definitely an upgrade from my old Dell Optiplex with a Core Duo CPU. Good to know I have a good stable activation that won't check out on me. Thanks much for sharing this very useful information.

[jordanlivesey]

the thing about OEM keys is that if you completely wipe your drive and reinstall windows it will be automatically be activated because your computer has a digital licence and is recognised by microsoft activation servers, the joys of buying a new windows pc. also, if needs be that licence is also linked to your microsoft account so even if you did make a hardware change you could sign into that account, not that you have a choice in windows 11 anyway as you can not skip internet connection unless you force quit network connection flow

[JoshuaMattingly]

Very handy steps for key checks. Thank you Brian.

[paying-for-freedom]

I have had many RETAIL keys fail after replacing parts or upgrading a system for a customer. I have never had a problem with an OEM key. Even if the old machine is dead. The OEM key works fine on a new build that replaces the old dead machine. It has been this way for me over many decades and 100s of computers.

[pottymouth]

thank you for this! i always buy my keys from a really good website that i trust and yup, it says my copy of windows is 100% legitimate. thanks!

[MonsterConrad]

Slight correction
I can't say this for every case and key, but in my experience, 1 key can activate multiple copies of windows on entirely separate systems and all of which will remain active.
As for if an older key (say a windows 7 key) were used to activate windows 10, it's supposed to update that key to windows 10 only and that it would be tied to that system.
I cannot confirm nor deny that this is true and I'm not willing to risk burning a key I could potentially need in the future. Maybe I won't ever need it, but that's that.

[kjrchannel]

The last key I will ever buy is the one that came with an official windows 7 install set.

[IamNmbrONE]

Retail Key user, just changed my mobo from x470 to x570 used the same key to activate a fresh install of windows and it works.

[BeautyLady-lzdi]

This is video that I looking for. thanks

[shanelamell]

Thanks again Britec and have a nice safe day!!

[writerpatrick]

I activated through the IP program and it comes up retail, however I believe Microsoft disabled those Window 10 keys for further activation so I don't think I can transfer it to another machine. My machine is activated for both W10 and W11 through a digital license connected to my Microsoft account. (I have it set as multi-boot so I can switch back and forth.)
I think there use to be a trick where you could use the IP program to get a key by first installing an unregistered version then signing up the computer for the IP program and switching to a Preview release. I'm not sure if anyone has tried to see what happens when you run the trial version of Windows 11 past the expiry date.

[rahimabdur]

As per my experience, even if it is a genuine retail key, once you activate with that key, it can not be removed from that particular machine, the activation server convert it to a digital key, and it shows windows is still activated, the procedure slmgr in the cmd cannot remove the key from the server, Any explanation for that? Information meant for Windows 10 Pro 64 bit. Thanks anyway.

[ronyzmiri]

What is the most recommended place to buy keys?

[dalriada]

When I wanted to transfer Windows 10 Pro to another machine, I didn't deactivate the licence. I just transferred the hard drive over to the new machine. After a period of cogitating to update the drivers for the new hardware, It said it was activated on the new machine. I then did a fresh install on an NVME drive. It's been happy that it is activated ever since, despite several reinstalls. Of course it might not have been able to get the old install working, so I had imaged the drive first. If you have a digital licence, how do you transfer it to another machine when you don't have an old style key? I have an old 32bit Windows 10 Pro upgrade for Windows 7 retail for an old laptop that I don't use. Could this be transferred to another 64 bit machine and activated using a 64 bit version of Windows?

[lenny]

Basically all our Win10 keys and Win11 keys originate from previous systems like Win7 when people bought a new pc and with the pc the OS. Thus they all must be genuine and able to migrate to new hardware components?

[Aberbrothock]

Hi brian, whenever i install windows on any pc it automaticaly activates itself with a digital licence???

[AsifAAli]

I think if you have a MS account and a bunch of MS products. then there's no key needed. MS will just give u any windows u desire. ☻ sometimes, treating two different desktops as one with its OneDrive, an issue I'm facing these days. 😢

[rhyzon]

Retail keys are more expensive, true; but it really depends on when you buy them from. There are complete legit retail keys available for less than 8€ online.