Win 7: How to find OS product key in BIOS?


  1. Phrosen
    Posts : 92
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       New #1

    Win 7: How to find OS product key in BIOS?


    Hello.
    My friend came to me looking for help with formatting his old laptop (ASUS A52J).

    I downloaded Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder to find out the product key, and then formatted the hdd.
    We re-installed the OS (Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit) and tried to activate it with the key. Sadly the key didn't work.

    I figured that they key in BIOS would do the trick, so I downloaded and installed RWEverything and launched it. I went to 'ACPI Tables' but the 'MSDM' tab was missing. (By the way, why is it missing?) So I can't find the key using RWEverything. (Unless I'm doing something wrong?)

    Now I wonder if anyone knows of any other way to extract the OS key from BIOS?
    Thanks in advance. =)
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  3. ICIT2LOL
    Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       New #2

    Hello and sorry for the wait - mate the only way that I know of fixing this by phoning Microsoft and quoting the product key - if you get lucky you might be able to get them to let you activate the machine or just get an OEM or if you have the activation code on a sticker on that machine then use this
    https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html borrow a friends installation disk and use the ie.cfg removal tool to get the original version n that machine (see this in the tutorial) .

    See this http://lifehacker.com/5438005/eicfg-removal-utility-lets-you-use-any-product-key-with-your-windows-7-disc but it MUST be the original version that was installed on that machine. So if for example it was Home Premium then you must only use Home Premium
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  4. NoelDP
    Posts : 21,482
    Win 7 x64 Home Premium (and x86 VirtualBox VM)/Win10
       New #3

    Windows 7 Product Keys are not stored in the BIOS - the only 'personal' Key is on the COA sticker on the machine's case (or possibly inside the battery compartment)
    It's likely that the Key you found with the Keyfinder is an OEM_SLP Key - which is only valid when used with the proper manufacturer's Recovery media.
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  6. ICIT2LOL
    Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       New #4

    Yep Noel that's why I suggested the tutorial from Greg as I do not like to go into lengthy answers or delve into what anyone can afford I just thought if he had the code on the sticker and could borrow a friends or relative's 7 disk he could go that way as it is fiddly but would save an awful lot of money for him.
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  7. riddler
    Posts : 9
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       New #5

    This is a late post, but to help out anyone else that stumbles upon this thread here's a list of software that can find the product key. I've made a distinction between software that retrieves the product key from the registry and software that retrieves the product key from the BIOS (e.g. laptops with OEM installation).

    Product key from registry:
    Product key from BIOS:
    Product key from both registry and BIOS in one list/report:
    Last edited by riddler; 17 Jan 2016 at 09:21. Reason: After checking it seems that ProduKey lists both the registry key and BIOS key in one result. Moved ProduKey to lower list.
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