In a previous tip we explained how you can use slmgr, a built-in VBScript, to check Windows licensing state.
The core information used by this VBScript actually comes from WMI, so in PowerShell, you can directly access the raw licensing data like this:
PS> Get-WmiObject SoftwareLicensingService
You can also check the license status of your copy of Windows:
PS> Get-WmiObject SoftwareLicensingProduct | Select-Object -Property Description, LicenseStatus | Out-GridView
And you can find out which Windows SKU you are actually using:
PS> Get-WmiObject SoftwareLicensingProduct | Where-Object { $_.LicenseStatus -eq 1 } | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Description Windows Operating System - Windows(R) 7, RETAIL channel
To investigate all the other logic found in slmgr, have a look at the VBScript source code:
PS> notepad (Get-Command slmgr).Path
