How to Recover Windows 10 Product Key on Ubuntu

Recovering Windows 10 Product Key from Ubuntu

If you need to recover a Windows 10 product key from an old hard drive, you can do this by mounting the drive in Ubuntu and using the hivexget tool to extract the key from the Windows registry.

Step 1: Mount the Windows Hard Drive

Remove the hard drive from the old computer and connect it to your Ubuntu system. Then mount it:

sudo mount /dev/sdX /mnt/{$SomeFolder}

Replace /dev/sdX with the actual device name (e.g., /dev/sdb1) and {$SomeFolder} with your preferred mount point name.

Step 2: Install hivex Tools

Install the necessary tools to read Windows registry hives:

sudo apt install libhivex-bin

Step 3: Navigate to the Mounted Drive

Change to the mounted Windows drive:

cd /mnt/{$SomeFolder}

Step 4: Extract the Product Key

Use hivexget to read the product key from the Windows registry:

hivexget Windows/System32/config/SOFTWARE '\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform' BackupProductKeyDefault

This command:

• Reads from the Windows SOFTWARE registry hive
• Extracts the BackupProductKeyDefault value from the Software Protection Platform key
• Returns the Windows 10 product key

Important Notes

• Ensure you have read access to the mounted drive
• The drive should be from a working Windows 10 installation
• This method works for both OEM and retail product keys
• Make sure to unmount the drive safely when finished: sudo umount /mnt/{$SomeFolder}

Alternative Methods

If this method doesn’t work, you can also try:

• Using produkey tool in Windows
• Checking the product key sticker on the computer case (for OEM installations)
• Using PowerShell commands: wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey