Principle of WinRAR key generation
WinRAR Keygen GUI is a graphical companion for the winrar-keygen CLI tool. It provides a modern Windows desktop interface built with .NET 8 WPF and Fluent Design (WPF UI), allowing you to generate WinRAR license files without using the command line.
For the key generation algorithm, see How does it work?
Go to the Releases page and download the variant that matches your system.
| Variant | Architecture | .NET Runtime Required | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| x64 | AMD64 (most Windows PCs) | No (self-contained) | ~75 MB |
| x64-dotnet | AMD64 | Yes (.NET 8 Desktop Runtime) | ~6 MB |
| ARM64 | ARM64 (Surface Pro X, Snapdragon laptops) | No (self-contained) | ~71 MB |
| ARM64-dotnet | ARM64 | Yes (.NET 8 Desktop Runtime) | ~6 MB |
Which one should I download?
- Most users: download x64 -- it works out of the box on any 64-bit Windows PC.
- If you already have .NET 8 Desktop Runtime installed, download x64-dotnet for a smaller file.
- For ARM-based Windows devices, download ARM64 or ARM64-dotnet.
The architecture label is displayed in the bottom-right corner of the GUI (e.g. x64, ARM64 (.NET)).
Supports three encoding types for the license file:
| Encoding | Description |
|---|---|
| UTF-8 (default) | Supports all Unicode characters. Automatically adds utf8: prefix when non-ASCII characters are present. |
| ASCII | Only full ASCII characters (0x20--0x7E). Non-ASCII input will trigger a warning. |
| ANSI | Windows locale-dependent encoding (e.g. Windows-1252). May produce garbled text on other systems. |
When enabled, the generated key is written directly to %APPDATA%\WinRAR\rarreg.key, activating WinRAR without manual file copying. When disabled, the key is saved to a custom output path.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Remember Settings | Persist all preferences between sessions. When disabled, settings reset to defaults on next launch. |
| Autofill License Name | Pre-fills "Single PC usage license" as the default license name. |
| Back Up Existing Key | Creates a timestamped backup of rarreg.key before overwriting. |
| Check for Updates | Automatically checks GitHub for new releases on startup. A red dot appears on the version number when an update is available. |
- Light / Dark theme -- follows system theme on startup; toggle manually via the moon/sun button.
- Version check -- click the version number to manually check for updates or open the releases page.
- .NET 8 SDK or later
- Windows 10 / 11
dotnet restore
dotnet build
dotnet runUse the included build script to generate all 4 variants at once:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File build.ps1Output is placed in the publish/ directory:
publish/
x64/winrar-keygen-gui.exe (~75 MB, self-contained)
x64-dotnet/winrar-keygen-gui.exe (~6 MB, requires .NET 8)
ARM64/winrar-keygen-gui.exe (~71 MB, self-contained)
ARM64-dotnet/winrar-keygen-gui.exe (~6 MB, requires .NET 8)
The code is available under the MIT license