How in the Tech

View product keys of installed Windows or Office

By Adam Myers ⋅ November 26, 2009 ⋅ Tags: Windows

Have you ever had to reinstall Windows or Microsoft Office but had no idea what the product key is? It’s common for the manufacturer of your PC to have the Windows product key affixed to the side of the computer or stuck inside a DVD jewel case. However, there are many reasons why this may not be the case. Let’s face it, stickers get worn off and jewel cases get misplaced – it happens. That doesn’t make it tolerable though when these product keys are needed for installation. Worse, Microsoft doesn’t make it trivial to recover the product keys on their installed software – perhaps to stop drive by piracy or something. At any rate, it is possible to view and recover the product key used for Windows or Office assuming you have access to that very system.

WinGuggle is a free no-installation-necessary download that can view the product keys of the installed versions of Windows and Office which you can then record for re-use at a later date. If you work in a corporate environment and are finding yourself doing a lot of re-installs, likely you’ve come across situations where you know the software is licenses for the PC in question but have long since lost the appropriate activation key. Consequently, WinGuggle is a perfect companion to sit along side all your other administration tools on your handy USB thumb drive.