The best product key finder software makes it easy to find Microsoft serial numbers for Windows 10, Windows 11 and other software.
Best Product Key Finder Software 2024: Quick Menu
Product keys are one way software developers protect their products from piracy. Unfortunately, it’s easy to lose them, which can be a real problem if you have to reinstall Windows or any other software from scratch
If you bought a desktop or laptop with Windows 10 pre-installed, you’ll likely find its product key on the certificate of authenticity label on the case or in the accompanying documentation, but not if you built your own PC and installed the operating system yourself.
Many other applications also require product keys if you reinstall them – including Microsoft Office – and if you’ve lost the email you received when you first installed them, you could be in real trouble later.
Product key finders only work for software that’s already installed, so download it and make a note of all your keys now to be prepared in advance.
If you’re looking to optimize your PC, you can also check out our featured ones the best free PC optimizer.
Best Windows 10 Product Key Finder 2024 Full:
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The best overall
Belarc Advisor is primarily a tool for collecting information about your Windows system, including hardware, security updates, and product keys.
Every time you start Belarc Advisor, it automatically checks its database for software definitions – which is necessary to find keys for new programs. It then scans your system and presents the findings on an HTML page in your default web browser. Scroll down to ‘Software License’ to find serial numbers and product keys for Windows, Office and many other applications.
Belarc Advisor provides a wealth of other information, including details about your antivirus software, connected hardware, and other devices on the same network. It also offers a security benchmark, though unfortunately it’s only available for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP Pro.
Belarc Advisor scans are fast and offer much more information than serial numbers, it’s our favorite free product key finder.
The best budget
There are two versions of MyKeyFinder: free and paid. Both will find Windows and Microsoft Office product keys, but the Plus edition will also scan external hard drives and find Wi-Fi passwords.
After MyKeyFinder scans your computer’s registry, the results are displayed in a clear list, ready to be copied to the clipboard with one click. Unlike many product key finders, MyKeyFinder will not throw out duplicate keys, and the results are searchable and filterable.
You can also standardly add programs and keys that MyKeyFinder doesn’t detect, then export the entire list as a PDF so they’re all in one convenient place.
The best portable
LicenseCrawler will find a license key for almost any application that has one, and it’s free for home use. Its Windows registry scan takes a long time to complete – even if you select the ‘high speed’ option – but you can limit its scope by using blacklist and whitelist filters.
LicenseCrawler is distributed as a portable application, which means you don’t need to install it on the Windows system you’re scanning—just download the zip file, extract its contents, and run LicenseCrawler.exe. This is especially handy if you have several computers; just download it to a USB stick and you can just plug and run it on any of them.
The only downside to LicenseCrawler is the occasional pop-up ad, but finding product keys isn’t a task you’ll be doing every day, so they’re just a minor inconvenience.
The best basic
Windows Product Key Viewer is super fast, it takes barely a second to scan your system and present the results. This is because, as the name suggests, it only provides the product key for your operating system.
That shouldn’t necessarily put you off though. While it doesn’t find serial numbers for other apps, it does provide some additional information about your OS, including registered user, installation date, and last boot time, and is compatible with operating system versions from Windows 10 all the way up to Windows 95.
Be careful when downloading software – the site includes some ads that look like software download buttons, but are not actually related. Just click on the “Download Windows Viewer Product Key” link.
Best for information
Free PC Audit is another portable application that doesn’t even come as a zip archive – just download the exe file and run it to start the scan.
Like Belarc Advisor, Free PC Advisor provides a wealth of information about your entire system—not just its software—although its interface isn’t quite as intuitive. It is compatible with all versions of Windows, from NT to Windows 10, but it does not find keys for Microsoft Office or any other software.
It also provides lists of all installed software and running system processes, although this information is readily available through Windows itself.
FAQ about the best product key finder software
Which Windows 10 product key finder is best for you?
When deciding which Windows 10 product key finder to download and use, consider your actual needs first, as sometimes free platforms can only provide basic options, so if you need to use advanced tools, you may find that a paid platform is much more worthwhile. Additionally, free and low-cost software options can sometimes prove to be limited when it comes to the variety of tools available, while higher-end software can meet all needs, so be sure to think carefully about what features you might need.
How we tested the best product key finder software
How we tested the best Windows 10 product key finder
To test the best Windows 10 product key finder, we first set up an account with the appropriate software platform, either as a download or as an online service. We then tested the service to see how the software could be used to retrieve keys for Windows and other software. The aim was to encourage each product to see how useful it is in a range of different situations.
Read how we test, rate and review products on TechRadar.
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