Windows 7: Where is The Product Installation Key?

I have a thread going to try to make my system work correctly. I'm not getting anywhere with that. I recently upgraded to Windows 7 Pro from Home Premium. I never saw a product key when the upgrade happened. Where do I find that Key so I can restore to Factory out-of-the-box condition and then do the upgrade without having to pay another $90 for the same computer? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Download and run jellybean key finder

Hi Robert,

Are you reffering to your Windows activation key? Shown below.

Hello robertg, welcome to Seven Forums!



Have a look at this tutorial at this link below.

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Thanks for the good idea, ZZ. Will this catch the upgrade registration key?

If the Windows activation key is the same as the upgrade key, then yes. I have that since it came with the computer. The original key is for Win 7 Home Prem. Will that 7HP key work with the upgrade or does it need to be identified separately? I've never done an upgrade without a disk and an installation key for that disk. I appreciate the information, Golden.

Hi, BFK. I'm familiar with this procedure, but that requires an upgrade disk. I don't have that. I upgraded with the "Anytime Upgrade" online. So far, I'm not thrilled about it. Thanks for the welcome.

I appreciate all your help. These forums can be a real boost. It's nice to see a forum where newbies are treated well. I'm a moderator on a totally different type of forum and it takes some effort to keep the mood like this one. Cudos to you all.

Hi Robert -

If you bought pre-installed Windows the Product Key for your Home Premium licensed version is on the COA sticker affixed to the machine. This is the key you would use if you clean reinstall using a Home Premium retail installer.

If you only want to run your Recovery Disks or Recovery partition to recover to full Factory Condition, then you don't need this key as it will auto-activate during recovery and start up just as it did when you brought it home.

If you use Anytime Upgrade to unlock Pro Features, the key it wants is an Anytime Upgrade Pro key, although the retail Windows 7 Pro key will work.

If you have decided you don't want Pro, then your options are to run your Recovery Disks or the Recovery Partition from boot, or find a retail Windows 7 installer to clean reinstall using these steps: re-install windows 7

Only if you use the last option to clean reinstall do you need to give the Home Premium Product key during install.

I hope this answers you questions and feel free to ask any others. If you give your make/model computer we can help you do the recovery if needed.

Thanks for the reply, Greg. Pro was not installed on the computer when new. What I need is the Anytime Upgrade Pro key. There was no retail one. The installation automatically got the key when I upgraded.

A factory recovery is not big deal, it just takes a little effort to put stuff back in. I've done it twice already but that was before I upgraded.

The computer is a Toshiba Satellite A665 (16"), i7 Q740 @1.73GHz, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB 7200 rpm SATA (it originally came with a 640 GB 5400 rpm one). 65-bit Win 7 Home Premium upgraded to Pro.

I'm not ready to go starting over yet, but the installation key is something I want on hand in case I have to go that way.

What makes you think the installation "automatically got the key" when you upgraded? Did you purchase an Anytime Upgrade key and insert it? If so, you should have a copy or the documentation to retrieve it.

Otherwise you can run Belarc Advisor or Magic Jellybean to audit the Key from the hard drive.

If you didn't already buy and insert the Anytime Key, it shouldn't have upgraded to Pro.

FYI, this is another excellent app for viewing any program activation keys but also the complete system specs, it's free and will install/run from a USB stick which makes it extremely portable.


SIW - System Information for Windows

Greg, I was given the choice to manually put in the key if I had it, which I didn't, or to have the upgrade automatically retrieve the key. Now that I think about it, would that mean MS uses the same key and keeps a record of my installation so the original key for Home Premium would do if I need to restore in the future?

BFK, I downloaded Lansweeper and will copy it to a flash drive to see what it finds on the A665.

Thanks to both of you.