How to find your OEM Windows activation keys from the Linux terminal....

[mikewalsh]

Evening, gang.

I'm probably preaching to the choir here, and if so, I apologize..! This wee snippet of info comes courtesy of my mate NickAu.....fellow BC mod, and long-term Puppy user. (Some of you may remember him from the old Murga Forum, some 10 yrs or so ago:-

http://oldforum.puppylinux.com/memberli ... le&u=44219 )

This comes from the CyberCiti blog, one I occasionally peruse myself:-

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-fin ... y-command/

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If your computer originally came, when new, with either Windows 8, 8.1 OR 10, then it almost certainly has UEFI. It seems that, even if - like me - you never booted it or activated it, and immediately wiped it out of your life because you had no use for, or interest in Windows, the activation key for that original install of Windows is still "embedded" in your UEFI.

(What this means, of course, is that if you should change your mind at some unspecified point in the future, and decide that you need Windows back on your machine, the only thing you need to do is to download the current offering from the M$ website....because at install time, Windows scans the UEFI to see if an activation key exists; if one does, it's picked up automatically. As we all know, it isn't Windows itself that costs an arm and a leg....it's that "activation key". And although I haven't run Windoze for many a year, I think I'm right in saying that the key is tied to your hardware, NOT Windows itself. Cos if it were, you'd run into issues every time M$ issued an updated build, yes?)

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For this, you need the "strings" command. Easiest way to get this is to load your DevX; "strings" is part of the binutils package, which is usually built-in to the Devx.

Having made "strings" available to the system, open a terminal, and issue the following command:-

Code: Select all

 strings /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM

I'm in my daily driver, ATM - jrb's lite spin on Barry's old Quirky64 April - upgraded to glibc 2.27 from glibc 2.20, and currently running peebee's recent k6.1.0 kernel. (Runs sweet!) I converted Quirky's original Devx .pet to an SFS ages ago; this is still fully functional, despite the upgrades, so:-

The above command gives me:-

Code: Select all

root@QuirkyMikePC:[~]strings /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM
MSDMU
HPQOEMSLIC-CPC	 
AMI 
MNF79-YT2HD-T786X-GWHF3-G83DQ
root@QuirkyMikePC:[~]

That last line - a string comprised of five groups of 5 numbers/letters, separated by hyphens - is the key for the Windows 10 that was installed on this Pavilion desktop when I bought it. (Goes without saying, of course; it's no use anybody else attempting to use it, because at this point it's already tied to MY specific hardware.... *shrug* )

And that, mes amis, is that. Easy-peasy when ya know how. I figured some of you might be interested in this, so.....there ya go!

Mike.

[tosim]

Thanks for this. Even though I usually only use Windoze once or twice a year, this might come in handy some day.

[mikewalsh]

Thanks for this. Even though I usually only use Windoze once or twice a year, this might come in handy some day.

Like I said, if it helps some of you, that was the object of the exercise. I haven't used it for almost a decade, personally, but I know several others who still use it semi-regularly for various "must-have" apps.....so this info is bound to come in useful for somebody at some point..!

Mike.

[gychang]

Evening, gang.

If your computer originally came, when new, with either Windows 8, 8.1 OR 10, then it almost certainly has UEFI. It seems that, even if - like me - you never booted it or activated it, and immediately wiped it out of your life because you had no use for, or interest in Windows, the activation key for that original install of Windows is still "embedded" in your UEFI.

(What this means, of course, is that if you should change your mind at some unspecified point in the future, and decide that you need Windows back on your machine, the only thing you need to do is to download the current offering from the M$ website....because at install time, Windows scans the UEFI to see if an activation key exists; if one does, it's picked up automatically. As we all know, it isn't Windows itself that costs an arm and a leg....it's that "activation key". And although I haven't run Windoze for many a year, I think I'm right in saying that the key is tied to your hardware, NOT Windows itself. Cos if it were, you'd run into issues every time M$ issued an updated build, yes?)

--------------------------------------------

For this, you need the "strings" command. Easiest way to get this is to load your DevX; "strings" is part of the binutils package, which is usually built-in to the Devx.

Having made "strings" available to the system, open a terminal, and issue the following command:-

Code: Select all

 strings /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM

I'm in my daily driver, ATM - jrb's lite spin on Barry's old Quirky64 April - upgraded to glibc 2.27 from glibc 2.20, and currently running peebee's recent k6.1.0 kernel. (Runs sweet!) I converted Quirky's original Devx .pet to an SFS ages ago; this is still fully functional, despite the upgrades, so:-

The above command gives me:-

Code: Select all

root@QuirkyMikePC:[~]strings /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM
MSDMU
HPQOEMSLIC-CPC	 
AMI 
MNF79-YT2HD-T786X-GWHF3-G83DQ
root@QuirkyMikePC:[~]

That last line - a string comprised of five groups of 5 numbers/letters, separated by hyphens - is the key for the Windows 10 that was installed on this Pavilion desktop when I bought it. (Goes without saying, of course; it's no use anybody else attempting to use it, because at this point it's already tied to MY specific hardware.... *shrug* )

Mike.

very useful info, thanks!

[mikewalsh]

You can grab your activation key from your UEFI firmware using the strings command. Just make sure you’ve got the DevX loaded to use it in the terminal.

Erm.....I believe that IS what I stated in the first post, no..?

?????

Mike.

[PipzDex]

Hi Mike
I hope I'm not bothering you with my comment
I've had this script for a while now, and I'll be honest, I don't remember which ISO or page I extracted it from, so I'm sharing it mentioning that it's not my authority, however it works exactly as you mention and also saves the key in a text file in root

Cheers!!