Any way to retrieve Visual Studio production key?

Question

I have Visual Studio 2015 Pro with retail key. I have built new PC and moved there. I was hoping VS has attached the key to my Microsoft account but it hasn't.

I cannot find the key.

I still have the old PC running. Is there any way I can recover the key from the registered Visual Studio or from my Microsoft account?

both PCs run Windows 10 and being used under same Microsoft account, if it helps

Solution

You should be able to find the activation key under the registry path HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Licenses\4D8CFBCB-2F6A-4AD2-BABF-10E28F6F2C8F\07062 . The value is encrypted though, so you need to decrypt it with the CryptUnprotectData method in the Win32 API.

I have created a small tool that simplifies this and should allow extracting product keys for Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019 (only tested for 2019 professional so far):

https://github.com/terjew/VSKeyExtractor

Comments

[vembutech]

Check i this location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStud‌​io\14.0\Registration‌​. check under PIDKEY

[Boppity Bop]

PIDKEY is empty..

[InterLinked]

Have you tried MagicJellyBean finder?

[Boppity Bop]

solved it by finding old email with the KEY.. I don't like installing free exe like MJB - it works as I heard. But simply don't install anything unless its totally unavoidable.

[Steve Melnikoff]

See also: stackoverflow.com/q/50480361/45552

[Burhan]

Thank you! I tried accessing the PIDKEY located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStud‌​io\14.0\Registration‌​\xxxxx first (because it's listed everywhere) but that didn't work. This, however, did the trick.