can you test an activation key

years ago I bought win 7 ultimate and have the key, is there a way to test it and see if it works, besides entering it into a PC?
I had totally forgotten I had this as I have not needed it.

I still dont need it, I bought it at a discount., it is RETAIL

I have thought about putting together a junk PC just to see if it works.

You could download VAMT which is part of the ADK. Insert the key in there, it should be able to determine whether it's a valid key or not. What it cannot do however is tell if there are any activations available on that key.

I don't know how you solved it but to check (and download a windows 7 iso) before installing windows 7 or 10 you can go here on the microsoft site:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...nload/windows7

itsme1 said:

I don't know how you solved it but to check (and download a windows 7 iso) before installing windows 7 or 10 you can go here on the microsoft site:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...nload/windows7

I just marked it solved because people said you cant know if its going to work.

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cereberus said:

You can check the key using showkeyplus available in MS Store. Nothing can tell you if key is in use other than running showkeyplus on pcs you think used it. However, if key is valid, you can still use it.

You can run that and type in the curious key and it will tell you some information?
or it is just pulling a key from a running OS

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DarGor said:

You could download VAMT which is part of the ADK. Insert the key in there, it should be able to determine whether it's a valid key or not. What it cannot do however is tell if there are any activations available on that key.

interesting, might try that just to see what it says
Doing that wont ruin the key?

Okay, the microsoft site will tell you whether it is valid or not but won't tell you if it is already in use on a computer.

itsme1 said:

Okay, the microsoft site will tell you whether it is valid or not but won't tell you if it is already in use on a computer.

how do you do that?
OH, I see!
Well, I dont want to do that it if it uses up the key, would it ruin the key?

It doesn't use the key if you enter it on the microsoft site. About showkeyplus, you run it on all your computers and you will see if your retail key is used on one of your computers.

itsme1 said:

It doesn't use the key if you enter it on the microsoft site. About showkeyplus, you run it on all your computers and you will see if your retail key is used on one of your computers.

so simply typing it in won't use it up, so that is good to know.
I know it is not installed on any of my PC's as I bought it a few years ago simply to have another copy of windows in case I needed it, and the price was good.