Solved Windows 8 product key

Is there a way to tell if a Windows 8 Upgrade product key has already been activated or not?

The problem is we have 5 laptops in our house and they all have Windows 7 and I bought
upgrade keys for all of them but we only upgraded 3 of the laptops.

Since we installed Media Center, the key that I pulled out of Magic Jelly Bean does
not match any of the keys on my list.

So, I don't know which keys I didn't use. Uggh.

Any help appreciated.

Please download: Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit, for software, hardware and security configuration information on your computer. Software license management, IT asset management, cyber security audits, and more.

Install and run, it should tell you everything about your PC including the Product Key.

I am familar with Belarc Advisor but I assumed it would give me the Media Center key as Magic Jelly Bean did instead of the actual original Windows 8 product key. I will download this when I get home and give it a try,

orlandotek said:

I am familar with Belarc Advisor but I assumed it would give me the Media Center key as Magic Jelly Bean did instead of the actual original Windows 8 product key. I will download this when I get home and give it a try,

Click to expand...

See:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/16077-media-center-remove-go-back-windows-8-pro.html#post386184

As far as I know anything that retrieves the key by reading it out of the registry will pull the currently in use key. In your case it will be your Media Center key. The same thing happens if you use a Pro Pack to upgrade Core to Pro. Those utilities will retrieve the Pro key. I don't know how you would ever find the other key, or even if its stored anywhere in the registry.

EDIT: Check out what Edwin linked too, you might get lucky and find what you want.

Well, here is what I found out.

First, just to let you know, I have the original Windows 8 (not any of the 8.1 upgrades/updates)
and I am still using IE 10 on this device.

When I ran Belarc Advisor, it indeed showed the Media Center key where is says "Windows 8
Pro product key". However, on the list of keys, there is one for "Windows Internet Explorer 10" and
THAT key is the original Windows 8 Pro product key I was looking for. Now, if you have 8.1 or IE 11,
this may not work for you. BUT, at least I now know which key I used on this laptop.

Thanx for the help!

Thanx for those that helped me fugure out how to find the Windows 8 product key with Media Center installed.

Once I had the laptop figured out, I had 2 desktops that I already knew which keys they had and I had
two keys left.

One of the two keys I had used on another Windows 7 tablet that died and has been scrapped. I think
that key could cannot be transfered since it was an upgrade key.

Since I no longer have that tablet I had to make a best guess of which key had not been used.

I just got in an Asus EP121 tablet with Windows 7 so I upgraded to Windows 8 and I think it took
the key I guessed it was. Says it's activated.

Now, just to download all the updates and get 8.1 on it. I'll be set!