Let's say I've got a computer that won't boot. However, I can hook the hard
drive up to a different computer and look at the contents of it.

With the information available to me, is there a way for me to tell what
version of Windows is installed on the hard drive? And if so, is there a way
to tell if it's OEM or retail?

On Apr 17, 6:00 pm, Spamhugger <Spamhug...@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote:

> With the information available to me, is there a way for me to tell what
> version of Windows is installed on the hard drive? And if so, is there a way
> to tell if it's OEM or retail?

Did you buy the computer new or used?

If the Root of the drive has a Boot.Ini, then it's a NT,2000,XP,Vista
install. The file is a plain text, so you can either edit it with notepad or
just type the contents to the screen.
If no Boot.Ini is present, you can edit MSDos.Sys and it will have the
Major/Minor Windows version (4.X) which denotes 9X/ME installs.

"Spamhugger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:B4A17462-78B6-498E-9A6C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Let's say I've got a computer that won't boot. However, I can hook the
> hard
> drive up to a different computer and look at the contents of it.
>
> With the information available to me, is there a way for me to tell what
> version of Windows is installed on the hard drive? And if so, is there a
> way
> to tell if it's OEM or retail?

If it's an NT type operating system use Regedit and load the Software
hive of the broken operating system and take a look at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

John

Spamhugger wrote:

> Let's say I've got a computer that won't boot. However, I can hook the hard
> drive up to a different computer and look at the contents of it.
>
> With the information available to me, is there a way for me to tell what
> version of Windows is installed on the hard drive? And if so, is there a way
> to tell if it's OEM or retail?

How do you do that John from another OS? I mean that is easy to check
from a running OS, but how from another OS?

--
Bill

"John John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)
> If it's an NT type operating system use Regedit and load the Software
> hive of the broken operating system and take a look at:
>
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
>
> John
>
> Spamhugger wrote:
>
>> Let's say I've got a computer that won't boot. However, I can hook
>> the hard drive up to a different computer and look at the contents
>> of it. With the information available to me, is there a way for me to
>> tell
>> what version of Windows is installed on the hard drive? And if so,
>> is there a way to tell if it's OEM or retail?

Look here for easy to follow example:
http://www.rwin.ch/xp-live/regedit.htm

The hive that you want to load is the Software hive.

John

BillW50 wrote:

> How do you do that John from another OS? I mean that is easy to check
> from a running OS, but how from another OS?
>

"Spamhugger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:B4A17462-78B6-498E-9A6C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Let's say I've got a computer that won't boot. However, I can hook the
> hard
> drive up to a different computer and look at the contents of it.
>
> With the information available to me, is there a way for me to tell what
> version of Windows is installed on the hard drive? And if so, is there a
> way
> to tell if it's OEM or retail?

Right click My Computer and choose Properties.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Answer in newsgroup. Don't expect an answer to email.

Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM wrote:

> "Spamhugger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:B4A17462-78B6-498E-9A6C-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>> Let's say I've got a computer that won't boot. However, I can hook the
>> hard
>> drive up to a different computer and look at the contents of it.
>>
>> With the information available to me, is there a way for me to tell what
>> version of Windows is installed on the hard drive? And if so, is there
>> a way
>> to tell if it's OEM or retail?
>
>
> Right click My Computer and choose Properties.

The computer doesn't boot, he wants to mount the disk in another Windows
computer to have a look at it ;-)

John

Oh that is so cool John. Many thanks!

--
Bill

"John John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ONmv%(E-Mail Removed)
> Look here for easy to follow example:
> http://www.rwin.ch/xp-live/regedit.htm
>
> The hive that you want to load is the Software hive.
>
> John
>
> BillW50 wrote:
>
>> How do you do that John from another OS? I mean that is easy to check
>> from a running OS, but how from another OS?

You're welcome.

John

BillW50 wrote:

> Oh that is so cool John. Many thanks!
>