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I have an OEM version of Windows 7 running on a Dell laptop, which was recently purchased and I'm unable to locate the Windows 7 key on the laptop or any material included with the laptop. The laptop came with only 2 GB of memory. I'd like to upgrade it to 6 GB, but doing so will require me to reinstall Windows so that I can upgrade to 64 bit. How can I determine the key used to activate Windows on my machine?

Update: Is it the Product ID located under the following (Paste into Windows Explorer)?

Control Panel\System and Security\System

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Product ID is not the product key... – Campo Aug 12 '10 at 20:51
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migrated from serverfault.com Aug 13 '10 at 0:12

This question came from our site for system administrators and desktop support professionals.

6 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Power down the laptop and remove the battery, you should find it on the case, safely hidden away... ;-)

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Awesome! Didn't even think to look there. Thank you. – senfo Aug 16 '10 at 13:46
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up vote 4 down vote

On the command line ("cmd" in run interface in start menu) type

slmgr.vbs /dli

and wait a few seconds, a popup will appear with your serial number in it.

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On my computer, that just gives the last five characters. The OEM key that come with your computer might not work for the 64-bit edition. As far as I know, only the retail keys are dual-purpose. – TuxRug Aug 13 '10 at 1:05
I believe that will only give you a partial key. I just tested with Win7 x86 and confirmed. – James Aug 13 '10 at 4:35
Worked like a charm. I was just determining which key went with which install - last 5 charecters did just that. Thanks. – Roberto Bonini Oct 5 '10 at 13:09
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up vote 0 down vote

Something like this should help.

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up vote 0 down vote

I was interested in the answer to this question myself so did a quick google.

Found the following website which may be useful.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/productkeysactivation/ht/windows-7-key.htm

I can't verify for sure whether it works nor whether the tools page the article links to is trustworthy but it seems to answer your question.

Hope this helps.

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I saw that one too. I felt the link I posted had a better explanation and was more clear on the best program to use. Funny how a simple Google search solves most questions on this site ;) – Campo Aug 12 '10 at 20:52
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up vote 0 down vote

Magic Jellybean Keyfinder is the best out there.

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This could be true, but considering you must pay $24.95 to recover keys for Windows 7 it is hardly a good solution considering there are free apps that will get the job done.... – Campo Aug 12 '10 at 21:01
@Campo: Since when? Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder shows the key (and it's copyable too) on my machine. – Hello71 Aug 13 '10 at 0:17
@Hello71: It mentions it on the Jellybean page linked to by Dan above. I was under the impressions that it got everything though... – James Aug 13 '10 at 4:34
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up vote 0 down vote

Being a Dell laptop it should have an OEM licensing sticker on the machine somewhere. Possibly under the battery, or just on the back of the machine.

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