Numerous free utilities are available to retrieve Windows product key from registry. We have already covered a few good tools such as LicenseCrawler and Windows Key Finder that recover Windows product key in a jiffy.
If you have a backup of the genuine Windows product key, then it’s a good idea to remove the product key from the registry especially, if you are sharing your PC with others, and if you don’t want others retrieve and misuse the product key.
The product key can be removed from the registry by executing a simple command. If you are interested, follow the below mentioned steps to delete Windows product key from registry.
1. Open the Command Prompt with admin rights. To do this, type CMD in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Or, navigate to Start menu, All Programs, Accessories to find the Command Prompt entry. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator option to run it with admin rights.
2. In the Command Prompt window, enter the below mentioned command and hit Enter key.
slmgr -cpky
3. Wait till you see “Product key from registry cleared successfully” message.
4. You have just deleted the Windows product key from registry.
Ger says
The space between slmgr and -cpky is crucial !! Else it won’t be recognized….
admin says
No, it will remove only Windows 7 key.
Neo says
Hi
Will that delete office 2010 key as well from the registry or only win 7?
Thanks
Jim says
I have just tried to delete the activation key on Windows 7 SP 1, using the above method but, instead of getting a window telling me that the key has been removed, I get a page of Notepad with a great deal of info. that I don’t understand. \help, please
Sune says
Very helpful, thanks! :)
filipe says
obrigado ! thanks ! :D