Where is my activation code?

Hey mate,

You can use ShowKeyPlus below to see your product key.

Find Product Key in Windows 10

amancandance said:

Planning on installing my copy of W10 on a new NVMe drive and ditching the old install, but I need my activation code, obviously. Where is it stored on my current install? Thanks.

Actually, you do not need the activation key at all. Windows 10 uses digital licences tied to hardware (mobi id). The licence is stored online not on the drive. So when you plug in drive, just skip key entry and pc will activate automatically.

Using showkweyplus to get key is fine if key is bios embedded, but if pc does not have a bios embedded key, it may only return a generic key e.g. if your windows 10 copy was an upgrade from windows 7/8.

In simple terms, you do not need the key. This is one of W10's greatest features.

amancandance said:

Thanks, I'll try that first. It was a stand alone purchase, not an upgrade.

Even with a standalone pirchase, and no bios embedded key, showkeyplus may not return original, if you have has build updates since installing it.

However, it is worth trying to get a record of key if yiu ha e lost it but depending on situation, it may not work.

However, as I said, you do not need the code to reinstall on same pc.

Hello @amancandance,

As mentioned by @cereberus, you could try these to retrieve your Product Key / Activation Key [ and installed software ] . . .

> Belarc Advisor - Shows in your Browser.
> ShowKeyPlus - Win10.Guru - Toolkit Item.
> Speccy - Download Page.

I hope this helps.