I have potentially lost my Windows activation key/digital license by attempting to fully Reset Windows 10 and then encountering an error `INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE`.
On a brand new computer, after minimal use, Windows Defender detected a virus so I decided that I would fully reset(delete all of the files) the computer to make sure virus is fully deleted, but in doing so I encountered an endless loop of Blue Screen of Death with `INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE`, with no way of even attempting to turn of safe mode or anything else, as I could only access BIOS or have Windows 10 attempt to start, and end up with the BSoD and then auto-restart, in an endless loop.
But I haven't saved my Windows 10 Product Key in any way, and it was used on the computer that is now broken. I still have the hard drive of the computer, so my only hope is to somehow get the Product Key/Digital License from the files
The reason why I want to extract the Product Key is because I cannot figure out how to circumvent the `INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE` error, so I decided that I would simply reinstall Windows 10, but that would require reactivating Windows 10 in the new installation.
If you lost or forgot where you had stored your Windows product key, I have a solution for you. Today we will see how a simple VBS script can be used to show us the product key of an installed copy of Windows 10, Windows 8 or Windows 7. It is a simple solution to extract your product key from the OS. We show you how to find your Windows product key in any version of Windows. Find your Windows 10 product key. You might be able to extract your Windows 10 product key using ProduKey.
Unlike Windows 7 PCs, computers pre-installed with an edition of Windows 8 and Windows 10 don’t have a Certificate of Authenticity (CoA) sticker with their original product key printed on it. This is because, the product key is embedded in the PC’s UEFI firmware and can’t be seen just by accessing the UEFI.
While using a Windows 10 PC, you don’t need to view or backup your Windows 10 product key as we can clean install or reinstall the same edition of Windows 10 on the same PC and activate the copy of Windows 10 without having to enter the product key.
That said, there might be instances where you want to view your Windows 10 product key. May be, you want to uninstall the product key and use it on a different computer, or may be, you want to backup the product key before making substantial changes your PC’s hardware.
There are plenty of software out there to view or retrieve your Windows product key. While not all of them work great on Windows 10 and some of them out there even show a different key than the actual product key, here are three methods to view or retrieve your Windows 10 product key for free.
In the first method, we are going to use the reliable NirSoft ProduKey to view the product key. In the second method, we will use the popular Belarc Advisor software (free version) to view the product key. And a VBS script will be used in the third method to view Windows 10 key.
Method 1
Use ProduKey to View or recover Windows 10 product key
Step 1: Visit this page, scroll down to see download links, and click on the latest version of ProduKey link to download the zip file containing ProduKey. Extract the zip file to a new folder to get ProduKey.exe file.
Torrent Extractor Windows 10
Step 2: Run ProduKey.exe file to view your Windows 10 product key.
Method 2
View Windows 10 product key using Belarc Advisor
Step 1: Download Belarc Advisor (free) from this page and then run the installer to get it installed on your Windows 10 PC.
Step 2: Launch Belarc Advisor with administrative rights. Upon launching, the tool will automatically begin analysing your computer.
Windows 10 Serial Extractor Machine
Step 3: Once the report is ready, it will be opened in your default web browser.
Step 4: On the left-side of the report (see above picture), under in page links, click Software licenses link to view your Windows 10 product key as well as product keys of other installed software.
Windows 10 Serial Number Recovery
Method 3
View Windows 10 product key using a simple script
Step 1: Click here to download Win10Key.zip file. Extract the zip file to get Win10Key.vbs file.
Step 2: Double-click on Win10Key.vbs file to view your product key.
Warning: This method is not very accurate, meaning the script might show a wrong product at times. So, we recommend you use ProduKey or Belarc Advisor over this script.
Have you backed up your Windows 10 product key?