How in the Tech

Determine your Microsoft Product Keys on an Installed System

By Adam Myers ⋅ April 20, 2009 ⋅ Tags: System Administration, Windows

Have you ever had to reinstall Microsoft Windows or Office only to be unable to find the product key necessary for activation? The product key is typically found on a sticker either on the computer itself or on the jewel case of the software itself. If you are like me and store your software disks in multi-CD carrying case, you won’t have the original singular case. If you still have Windows or Office installed you may be in luck as Microsoft stores the product key in the Windows Registry though it is not very easy to find.

In these situations I highly recommend the freeware utility RockXP. RockXP can scan your system and retrieve all sorts of information on Microsoft products – including the activation keys from the registry. The software’s name may imply it only works under XP but I found that to not be the case. It happily returned the results on my Vista SP1 and I see no reason why it would not work under Windows 7 – though I haven’t tested that aspect. RockXP is also able to return forgotten MSN login credentials or even XP account information. You knew that wasn’t very secure right?

RockXP is a single executable download without any installation – just download and execute. The software is quite simple in it’s execution; select the desired functionality from the labeled tabs and then click Scan on the displayed page. The scan took about 30 seconds before returning the product keys for Vista Business and Office 2007 installed on my computer.

RockXP isn’t something you are likely to use often but it a handy tool to know about nonetheless.