Belarc Advisor is a free program that will retrieve all your program keys and hardware information. It lets you print out a report. The older I get the more dyslexic I get, I don't trust myself to write down a bunch of keys correctly.

bitflipper
Great tip, Jeff! Thanks. That could be a lifesaver someday.
 
My own insurance has been to maintain a master file that contains every serial number and product key I've ever installed, along with logins and passwords, bank account numbers and social security numbers for the whole family.
 
I've been copying that file forward from machine to machine for 35 years (its original incarnation was on an Apple ][ !). Granted, it would be a treasure-trove for an identity thief, but I keep it well-hidden and password-protected. 

In the used jocks draw hey!

You don't need to enter the product key to upgrade to Windows 10 from 7 or 8.
 
Also a new key for Windows 10 will be generated and saved on the Windows license server under your machine key.
If you make some types of changes to the hardware in Windows 10, you make need to re-activate Windows 10. Usually it's a just call to an automated process attached to a license server.
 
If you do a clean install of Windows 10 overtop an already activated Windows 10 version, you can skip the product key entry and your version will be re-activated from the license server if the hardware ID is the same (or make that telephone call to the automated licensing system).
 
I just went through this process:
 

• Install Windows 7 Pro in VirtualBox.
• Upgrade that to Windows 10 Pro.
• Download the Windows 10 Pro ISO.
• Re-install, a clean install, of that ISO in Windows 10.

 
Except for the Windows 7 install, I did not need any product key.
 
So, in short, you don't really need to worry about this anymore. 
 
There are many product key finders: Belarc, Magic Jelly Bean, Produkey, ShowKeyPlus, KeyFinder, productkey.vbs, etc.. All of these are free or have free versions.
 
Another useful thing (if you save detail), is the signed license manager data. In an elevated command prompt type:
 
slmgr.vbs /?
     for command list
 
slmgr.vbs /dlv
     for licensing details

+1 for Belarc Advisor
Serial Numbers and lots of detailed computer info all in one place. And if's free!

bitflipper
Great tip, Jeff! Thanks. That could be a lifesaver someday.
 
My own insurance has been to maintain a master file that contains every serial number and product key I've ever installed, along with logins and passwords, bank account numbers and social security numbers for the whole family.
 
I've been copying that file forward from machine to machine for 35 years (its original incarnation was on an Apple ][ !). Granted, it would be a treasure-trove for an identity thief, but I keep it well-hidden and password-protected. 

Hey Bit - I maintain such a document as well, AND I also email it to myself whenever I update it, and I use a browser-based email, so I can get at it from anywhere (Yahoo and also Gmail).
 
Bob Bone
 

+ 1 for what Bob says. Great minds think alike ;-)

Plus i keep a copy on OneDrive for access anywhere.

Cheers,
Jerry

Well said gents! Time to get my Excel spreadsheet of my passwords, serial & registration numbers off my local machine. I'm putting it on OneDrive and emailing to my 'other' email account on a regular basis now.
 
Ciao
m

All good but the windows 10 product key you may get from it is effectively useless (unless you bought win 10 outright).

+ 1 for BELARC ADVISOR
 
One thing still is unclear for me. After I upgraded to Win10 from Win7 I ran Belarc again to find out that a new key had been generated for WIN10.
 
My question: I've downloaded WIN 10 iso from my "internet" desktop to upgrade all my computers. Will that iso be linked only to the desktop it was downloaded from? (I've read somewhere that MS media creation tool was linking the ISO to the motherboard processing it...) So, will my new windows 10 key will work as-is with the ISO from my "net computer" or will I be forced to create the ISO via running the MS media creation tool on my DAW laptop directly?
 
Silly question, I know, but some info I am finding online are close to being contradictory... as far as I can understand at least.
 
 

It's been a few weeks since I upgraded to Windows 10 but I believe when you down load the ISO it asks if the the down load is for the current computer or for another one.