Question I'm trying to recover the Windows 10 Product Key I used for a VM ?

[PCisverygood]

Hi, I’m sure that this issue is unlikely to be able to be solved, but I was wondering if anyone knows how to recover a product key from a VM and free it up to activate another install.

After I built my latest system I realised that the product key (for windows 10 home) that was located at the back of my old system was never used (otherwise it wouldn’t have let me activate a VM installation). Therefore, I tried to use the product key to test whether Windows 11 Home would activate. But this was when I realised I had forgotten to uninstall/unlink that product key from an old windows 10 VM I had made before I then deleted it. At this point the key is deemed to have already been used, but because I deleted the VM and accidentally forgot to use slmgr to unlink the key, I now can’t use that key for any future W10 VMs.

Is there any way to recover the key or is that one now unusable? If it’s unusable it doesn’t actually matter as my current build is activated through a digital licence anyway.

 

[Lutfij]

After I built my latest system I realised that the product key (for windows 10 home) that was located at the back of my old system was never used (otherwise it wouldn’t have let me activate a VM installation).
If the key you speak of was located at the back of a prebuilt then it's very likely an OEM key, which means it's tied to the BIOS chip for the motherboard = you won't be able to recycle it on another system.

You could upgrade the OS to Windows 11 on your VMWare system so you've got a leg up on that platform.

 

[USAFRet]

Hi, I’m sure that this issue is unlikely to be able to be solved, but I was wondering if anyone knows how to recover a product key from a VM and free it up to activate another install.

After I built my latest system I realised that the product key (for windows 10 home) that was located at the back of my old system was never used (otherwise it wouldn’t have let me activate a VM installation). Therefore, I tried to use the product key to test whether Windows 11 Home would activate. But this was when I realised I had forgotten to uninstall/unlink that product key from an old windows 10 VM I had made before I then deleted it. At this point the key is deemed to have already been used, but because I deleted the VM and accidentally forgot to use slmgr to unlink the key, I now can’t use that key for any future W10 VMs.

Is there any way to recover the key or is that one now unusable? If it’s unusable it doesn’t actually matter as my current build is activated through a digital licence anyway.

If you go to your MS account, is that system or VM listed as having a license?

Unlinking a license on that system does little if anything.
It simply tells that system (or VM) that it no longer has a license. It does not transmit that back to the activation server farm.

If that license is listed at your MS account, simply tell that you're not using it for that system anymore.
If it isn't, then just start using it elsewhere.

 

[PCisverygood]

If you go to your MS account, is that system or VM listed as having a license?

Unlinking a license on that system does little if anything.
It simply tells that system (or VM) that it no longer has a license. It does not transmit that back to the activation server farm.

If that license is listed at your MS account, simply tell that you're not using it for that system anymore.
If it isn't, then just start using it elsewhere.

I never signed in with a Microsoft account on the VM as I thought it would mess up activation on the real system I use. I just used a local account and used that key to activate.

 

[USAFRet]

I never signed in with a Microsoft account on the VM as I thought it would mess up activation on the real system I use. I just used a local account and used that key to activate.

Onscreen, did it ever ask to be activated?
If so, then it DID link to the mothership.

You could have just left the VM Unactivated. I have a Win 10 VM like that.
Installed Dec 8 2016, been running ever since.

 

[PCisverygood]

Onscreen, did it ever ask to be activated?
If so, then it DID link to the mothership.

You could have just left the VM Unactivated. I have a Win 10 VM like that.
Installed Dec 8 2016, been running ever since.

Ah ok, I guess I can just leave it then. I don’t really NEED the key for anything as I already had an activated windows installation without it, I just wanted to use it for testing purposes. What I was trying to do was see if I could use it to activate Win 11, but when I installed windows 11 on a brand new VM, I then realised I forgot to deactivate the key on the old VM. I’ve done this multiple times and learned that if you use slmgr /upk to uninstall the key from one VM, you can then use the same key on a new VM for activation.