Forum Discussion

Danielslie's avatar
Danielslie
Copper Contributor
May 28, 2024

Can I save an OEM key to my MS account?

One of my laptop is shipped with an OEM key and Windows 10 Pro is activated automatically when upgrading from Windows 8. How can I sync this key to my MS account?   Thanks  
Windows10
  • Yarisyoyo's avatar
    Yarisyoyo
    Jun 05, 2024
    OEM licenses are linked to the machine. You will not need the license key to reinstall Windows at any point on that same machine. These cannot be linked to your Microsoft Account because it lives and dies with the machine and cannot be transferred.
Glanton's avatar
Glanton
Copper Contributor
The key is stored on your computer's motherboard, so if you want to re-install there's an option along the lines of "I already have a license" and if you click that it'll automatically detect it.
deanshepherd's avatar
deanshepherd
Brass Contributor
Oct 18, 2024
open command promt as admin and open the system32 dir
cd c:\windows\system32
then run the following it should return the current OEM key
wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey

Resources