Recover activation codes ( product key or license code or license key ) of installed programs on your computer is of paramount importance if you are considering to upgrade or reinstall the operating system in Windows and now you will have the opportunity to activate those software again and continue using them with the next installation.
The problem is that with the passage of time it is easy to lose the activation code of the installed programs because you are no longer in possession of the packaging on which it was reported and/or because you have not noted them somewhere.
However, it is good to know that most of the activation codes of the programs installed on the computer are saved in the system registry and in other Windows directories from which it is therefore possible to retrieve them using appropriate software. Then let’s see how to do it.
RECALL
Recall is a small free software with which you can retrieve and thus see in clear the activation codes of the programs installed on your computer, operating system and passwords saved on internet browsers.
Easy to use, once installed and started select “Automatic recover” as recovery mode and click the “Next” button to start everything.
As you can see personally, in real time during the scan recALL will show the names of the programs and the corresponding activation codes that it has managed to recover up to that moment (the activation codes are shown in the “Password” column).
At the end by clicking the “Next” button you will also have the possibility to export the activation codes in a TXT text file or in an HTML file (recommended, to be opened on the internet browser) ready to print on paper or to be transferred to a external memory so you can find them when needed.
Compatible with Windows : XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 | Size : 6.78 MB | Download recALL
LicenseCrawler
LicenseCrawler is another free application of the same type but compared to recALL has a graphic interface a bit ‘more Spartan but in any way equally effective.
It does not require installation and once started, only make sure that the “Localhost” option and the “HKEY_ALL” or “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” parameter are selected in the “Computer” section, then click the “Start Search” button to start the recovery operation of activation codes of the programs installed on the computer.
Product keys that will be displayed in real time on the LicenseCrawler interface as it recovers them. Also in this case, in addition to the activation code of the third-party software, the activation code of the Windows operating system in use will also be recovered.
At the end of the process it will then be possible to export everything in a TXT text document by clicking the File> Save button.
Compatible with Windows : XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 | Size : 1.35 MB | Download LicenseCrawler
Belarc Advisor
Belarc Advisor is a well-known software that once installed and started returns a detailed report of the software and hardware profile of the computer on an internet browser page.
Among these information, in the “Software Licenses” section, the activation codes of the programs installed on the computer in question will also be displayed.
In my case, Belarc Advisor was able to identify the activation codes of two programs that neither recaALL nor LicenseCrawler were able to identify ( Google Earth Pro and Avira Antivirus ) so it is good to use all three of these resources to have the possibility to recover the majority number of software activation codes.
Compatible with Windows : XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 | Size : 4.16 MB | Download Belarc Advisor