How to Retrieve Your Windows 10 Product Key from an Unbootable Drive [New Method for 2024]

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"Hello, I'm experiencing an issue with the motherboard of my laptop, rendering it unusable. Virtually all its functions have been compromised. I took it to a computer repair shop, but they couldn't resolve the problem. We attempted to recover the hard drive, but unfortunately, that was unsuccessful. I'm currently in the process of building a new computer, and I'm wondering if there's any way to retrieve my Windows license. Appreciate your assistance in advance."

If you're a computer expert or local tech, you might often find yourself reinstalling Windows for others. A common and annoying problem when the hard drive is readable is that users don't have their Windows license. You have to take the time to recover the original Windows product key from the system.

Many devices (laptops and netbooks, for example) ship with paper product-key stickers that lack a plastic overcoat, meaning that the keys darken and become unreadable all too soon – a serious problem in today's world of extended product lifetimes.

A Windows product key is important for several reasons, especially if you're trying to reinstall Windows 10. And you never know when that might happen. To make matters worse, you might need a Windows 10 product key to fix an unbootable computer.

Recovering a Windows 10 product key from an unbootable drive is surprisingly simple, despite how convoluted the process might seem.

How to Retrieve Your Windows 10 Product Key from an Unbootable or Damaged Drive

A Windows 10 product key is a unique code that verifies you have an “activated” copy of the operating system. Every Windows computer has a 25-character product key that looks like this: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX.

There are several reasons why you might need to recover your Windows 10 product key from an unbootable drive or a frozen PC:

How to Find Your Windows 10 Product Key from a Broken Laptop or PC

• After you find the product key, reinstall and activate Windows 10.

• Install and activate Windows 10 on another new computer. When your PC finally kicks the bucket, your next step will be to reinstall Windows. But when you eventually get to the “reinstall” stage, you'll be prompted for your Windows product key.

"How can I find my Windows product key when the computer is frozen on Windows 10?" Don't worry! This article will guide you through the process of retrieving your Windows 10 product key from an inactive or unbootable drive.

Complete Guide: How to Find and Recover Your Windows 10 Product Key from a Failing/Non-Bootable Drive (UTF-8 Encoded)

Here are several methods to recover your key from an unbootable computer, most of which require the assistance of another functioning computer. Before you begin, ensure that you have access to a working Windows PC and a SATA-to-USB cable, then follow these steps:

#1 Remove the unbootable hard drive (HDD/SSD) from the faulty desktop/laptop.

A damaged operating system can prevent a hard drive from booting, but you can usually fix the problem by removing the hard drive and connecting it to another computer. Make sure you have access to a working Windows computer for this process.

Step 1: Open the case of your computer using a screwdriver, or press the button to open it if it has one.

Step 2: Find the hard drive enclosure.

Step 3: Push the lever to release the IDE ribbon cable and power connector, freeing the hard drive.

#2 Connect the Unbootable Drive to a New Healthy Computer

To do this, you'll need a few tools, including a SATA-to-USB cable, dock, or external enclosure.

First, insert the drive you removed into an external enclosure.

Step 2: Plug it into the USB port of a working computer using a USB adapter. If you have a SATA to USB cable, you can use that instead.

Step 3: After connecting the drive, you might receive a notification on your computer. You can also go to "This PC" to see if the drive is connected.

Step Four: Choose the kind of files you want to back up. Then select the specific files you need (or, to be safe, select them all). Once your files are safely copied, you can fix your old computer and drag the files back when it's up and running again.

Ideally, you should use a computer of the same platform, so if the external drive came from a Mac, connect it to another Mac.

#3 Use a Key Finder Tool to Retrieve the Windows 10 Product Key from an Unbootable Drive

Now that your hard drive is connected to a healthy computer, you need reliable software to successfully retrieve the Windows 10 product key from the unbootable drive. For this, we have a great tool in mind.

Key Finder is a professional tool for searching the product keys of Windows and other Microsoft products in the Windows Registry. You can scan the registry of the current operating system as well as external hard drives connected to the computer.

Using a specialized tool like Key Finder can help you retrieve license keys of installed applications on a crashed or functioning computer. Additionally, this software offers some remarkable features, such as:

This smart tool can help display saved accounts and passwords in the following browsers: Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer.

Since computers automatically connect to Wi-Fi networks, most of us forget Wi-Fi passwords if we don't have them backed up. A Key Finder tool can quickly display the wireless network password on a Windows computer.

• Lets you find and save serial numbers of Adobe and Microsoft Office programs. Export or copy the numbers with a single click to a secure location.

• It can save your account credentials and app settings, allowing you to restore them on a new device and avoid being locked out or having to reset your accounts.
• It features a flexible interface that enables users to get assistance quickly and efficiently.

Step one: Remove the system drive from the computer that won't boot, and connect it to a working PC via a SATA-to-USB cable as an external drive.

Connect the operating system drive to the new computer via USB-SATA cable as an external hard drive

Step 2: Run tools Partition Master on a working computer and click "External Hard Drive" and then select the problematic or unbootable operating system drive under "Select a disk" to proceed. Click "Scan" to continue.

Or, click Browse in the Choose a Microsoft account window to select a user account on the crashed or unbootable operating system drive.

Step 3: Search for important product keys from the OS drive of the damaged or unbootable PC.

1. Find your Windows, app, or Wi-Fi password:

Click on “Windows” or “Applications.” This will display the product key for the unbootable PC's copy of Windows or any applications that you have installed, as well as your WiFi password. Click “Copy,” “Print,” or “Save” to back up the Windows or installed software product keys and WiFi password.

Recover Windows, application, or WiFi keys from a damaged or unbootable OS drive

2. Find the password for a browser or Windows credential:

Click “Internet & Network” or “Windows Credentials” on the left, and then click “Verify Now.”

• Sign in with the Microsoft account and password for the damaged or unbootable PC to authenticate.

Next, you will see a list of all saved usernames and passwords in your web browser or on your computer. You can “copy,” “print,” or “save” these usernames and passwords as a backup for your new computer.

Therefore, download the Key Finder tool and recover Windows 10 product key easily and effectively from an unbootable drive.

Conclusion: It is easy to Retrieve Windows 10 Product Key from Unbootable Drive

Recovering a Windows 10 product key from an unbootable drive isn't as difficult as it sounds. First, you'll need to remove the hard drive from the failed or frozen computer and connect it to a healthy system. Once the HDD is hooked up, you can use software to recover your Windows 10 product key. We recommend using a tool like Key Finder to help you with the recovery process. It has many other features, and the interface is quite handy for beginners.

Hope you can successfully retrieve your Windows product key from an unbootable disk. Good luck!