There are a lot of keys in the city of Tarkov. Some places like the woods only have three keys, while others like the shore have up to 46 keys. Keys are needed to access quest areas and some of the best loot areas in the game. all the keys to getting the best loot available is a daunting task. Fortunately, the spawn locations for the majority of the keys available in the game have been found, making it a bit easier to find the exact key you need. This guide lists the most common locations to find keys in Tarkov.

The keys in this guide will be organized according to the card on which they are used, starting with the cards with the fewest keys needed. If you need to find a particular key and know its name or location, you can use Ctrl + F to search within the page.

Factory

The factory only has three keys, and two of those keys open the same door. The most useful of the three is the factory release key.

Factory Release Key – This key can only be used 50 times. It opens two more extraction points in Factory and an optional room that can be used in the quest “Bad rep evidence”. He can also open the doors of the guard building near the new gas station in the crane yard and the tanker doors on the interchange.

This key can appear in several places on customs. In the three-story dorms inside the downstairs guard office, he can be found on a table next to the broken television. In a blue locker in a building on the southeast side of customs just south of the chimneys. The building is near the lootable blue van.  You can also swap a used version of this key with an MRE and four Iskra lunch boxes in Jaeger at level 2 for a brand new one.

Pumping Station Door Key – This key is referred to as the “Door Key” in the game, but is more commonly referred to as the Pumping Station key by players. This key opens the pumping station in the northern section of the plant near the boilers. This room is an optional location for the “Sanitary Standards – Part 1” quest for the therapist. This is a great place to grow bleach.

The key may appear on a bench in the locker room on the second floor of the offices. The bench is in a small area between the dressing room and the adjoining bathroom.

Door key (alternative) – This key is the same as the above key in function but opens a different door just on the other side of the small pumping station. This key has no known in-game spawn points other than Scavs’ jackets and pockets and bags.

Woods

Yotota Car Key – This is a folding key for a white Yotota pickup truck found in the lumber yard. The truck will have its hood up and is located next to the three cabins on the southwest side of the lumber yard. The loot in this truck isn’t that great, so getting that key shouldn’t be a top priority. This key does not appear in the game. It is only found in Jackets and Scavs.

ZB-014 Key – This key opens the ZB-014 bunker near the wall just north of the east gate. This bunker can serve as an extraction point and contains some good loot that should be picked up. It can be used for the “Confidence Recovery” and “Ice Cream Cone” quests.

This key is in room 220 of the three-story customs dormitories. You will need the room key 220 to enter.

Shturman Key – This key can only be used once and is obtained by killing the boss Scav Shturman on Woods. It cannot be found in jackets or on Scavs.

The key unlocks a pool of common funds used by Shturman. The stash is a box on a tire near a pile of wood in front of the red warehouse in the lumber yard. You must find one during a raid for the quest “Hunter’s Path – Guardian of the Woods” given by Jaeger. You cannot complete the quest by simply purchasing the key from the market.

Laboratories

Labs has 10 keys to track down scattered all over the map. Keys that grant access to some of the best loot are usually to be found on other maps in the game.

TerraGroup Labs Access Card – This access card is probably the most important of all lab keys. This key is required to access the map from the raid selection menu. This access card can only be used once before finding or buying another one. In team play, each member of a team must have this key to be able to enter the labs. You must also gather three of these during a raid for the questline “Fishing Place” given by Jaeger.

Shoreline’s drawers

This key can be found in Shturman’s hiding place and in Shoreline’s drawers and in the lab itself. You can exchange the key with Mechanic at level three for six Poxeram Cold Welding Tubes and at level four for two physical Bitcoins. The therapist sells the key at level four for 157,500 rubles. It’s also a possible loot item for each boss. It is possible to farm the key using scav bosses, especially Shturman, as the scav boss and his nearby hiding place can spawn this item. If you are planning to retrieve the key from Shturman, it is recommended that you bring in a small team to make it easier for you. Check out our Woods guide for more information on the boss and his hiding place.

Black key card – This key opens the door to the G12 experimentation area on the first floor of the laboratory.

All possible spawn locations for this key can be found in the lab. He can be found in the G22 lab block at the south end of the second floor sitting next to a computer. You will need the green card to enter the area. There are also two spawning grounds in Great Hall O11 in the central area of ​​the first floor. It can appear on the large lab equipment table and on a computer desk in front of the toxic waste dump covered by the orange dome.

Green Key Card – This key card unlocks the G22 lab block at the south end of the second level.

The key card can appear on a shelf between two filing cabinets in the back hallway leading to the R23 arsenal at the north end of the second level. He can also appear at the reception desk at the Director’s office at O21 on the second level, and at an office next to the G11 quarantine area on the first level.

Blue Keycard

Blue Keycard – This key unlocks the door to the G11 quarantine area on the first floor.

This key appears in the reserve and the shore. On Shoreline, it can spawn in the West Wing of Offices 104 and 112. It is located on a desk in 104 and on a low shelf next to a TV in 112. It can occasionally spawn in the passenger door of the ambulance in front of the station on Shoreline. As a reserve, this key is dropped by the scav boss Gluhar upon his death.

Red Key Card – This is one of the most wanted keys for the Lab as it unlocks the Lab Security Arsenal in section R23 on the second level. The arsenal has plenty of loot, including weapons, ammo, and weapon mods.

The red Keycard can be found mainly on Shoreline. It’s in the east wing of the resort, in room 221, on a table with a laptop. In the west wing, it is in rooms 218, 203 and in the basement. In the basement, the key can appear in a gym locker that is missing the door. It sits on a water barrel in bedroom 218 and on the floor in front of the bedside table by the balcony in bedroom 203.

Purple Key Card – This key card unlocks the security post in R23 on the north side of the second level. This room can hold weapons and weapon mods, as well as COFDM and VPX storage mods.

The key card can appear in the trunk of the black SUV parked near the blue warehouse in the camp and on a table in the brick house just north of the camp. At the Scav checkpoint, the key card may appear inside the driver’s side door of the black SUV.

Yellow Key Card – This key is used to facilitate extraction through the parking lot. It unlocks the room needed to deactivate the parking garage alarm system.

This key appears mainly in the laboratory in R24, O21 and O11. In the second level cafeteria R24, the key appears on the table in the central window. In O21, on the second level, the key appears on the table in the front area of ​​the director’s office overlooking the floor of laboratory O11. Finally, it is also located in the central section O11 of the first level on one of the worktables.

Arsenal Storage Room Key

Arsenal Storage Room Key – This key unlocks the storage room door inside Arsenal R23. This room can have rare items and weapon mods.

The places of appearance of this key are on customs in the three-story dormitories, the new gas station and the electrical substation. At the substation on the northeast side of the map, the key can appear on a chair in the hut. In the three-story dorms, it can be found on a nightstand in Room 215. Finally, it can appear on the counter behind the cash registers at the new gas station.

Director’s Office Key – the Lk.MO key unlocks the doors to the Director’s office at O21 overlooking the O11 central lab area.

The spawn locations for this key are all in the lab at O13, O22, and in the Y11 parking lot. In O13, the key card is on a lighted desk near the glass doors. In O22, the access card is next to the laptop in the conference room. Finally, in the parking lot, the key is in the passenger seat of an SUV with a gun box in the back.

Weapon Test Area Key – The Lk.TA (w) or Lab key. Key. Test Zone (wrap.) Unlocks the door to the Weapons Test Zone in the central area of ​​the first level lab. This area has a few weapon boxes and possible weapon spawns.

The key can appear in the laboratory of gymnasium R15, at the entrance of R23 and in room B21 above the server room.

Gymnasium R15

Gymnasium R15 is located on the east side of the first level. The key can appear on a stool in the gym. In R23, the key may appear at the bottom of the shelves to the left of the entrance. Finally, the key can also appear on the kitchen counter in B21 at the south end of the second level.

We have a separate guide on how to find and beat Sanitar if you need help. This key unlocks its reserve at the second level of the laboratories.

The hideout is in the hallway at the opposite end of the floor of Recreation Area R21. The hiding place itself is a cupboard near the sterile lab in block G22 across from the server room at B21. You can find the door in the hallway between the lab and the server room next to a large “Terragroup Labs” sign. Use the map on the keypad next to the door to access it.

The stash contains a variety of medical supplies, including medical kits and stims. This is a great place to farm the new stims added with Update 12.7.