An unfortunate situation - Missing Product ID

[Bill W]

I volunteer my time one day a week at a senior care center. People who live
there were initially placed there by loved ones because they were not able
to care for themselves due to accidents, strokes, etc. Many improve
dramatically over time and begin to live somewhat normal lives. One person
in particular was admitted following a stroke. His grown children either
stored, discarded or sold many of his belongings. He has progressed to the
point where he's beginning to do more things with his computer such as
writing, photography, etc. I explain all of this so you'll better
understand why he no longer has any of his original disks including Office
and XP. His grown children don't know what they did with them. Yesterday,
Office would not let him continue without his first entering the product ID.
Being that he does not have his disks, he can't enter it and Office is now
disabled. He cannot continue his writing in Word. People there are paying
high assisted living costs, don't work and are on limited income. They
can't afford or even understand why they must spend a relatively great deal
of money to repurchase their software just because they can't supply a code.
I know that this question has been asked before, but is there any way to
retrieve a product ID? Again, please forgive the lengthy explanation, but
this is really an unfortunate situation where people innocently don't have
their original disk and product ID's through no fault of their own.

Thank for any help you can give. I'm sure I will encounter this situation
again with another person at the facility.

 

[Guest]

Bill,
Google a a proram called "keyfinder". Download and execute and this should
give you keys for XP and office.

 

[Guest]

Bill,

THe Product ID key can be found by going to START and then RUN

Type REGEDIT and ENTER

Once in REGEDIT go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\ProductID
This should solve your problem

 

[Tom Porterfield]

Yesterday, Office would not let him continue without his
first entering the product ID. Being that he does not have his disks, he
can't enter it and Office is now disabled. He cannot continue his
writing in Word. ... I know
that this question has been asked before, but is there any way to
retrieve a product ID?

Siw (System Info) from http://www.gtopala.com/siw_download.html will show
you the key if it is at all retrievable from the machine. Download and run
siw.exe and click on Licenses under Software.

 

[Tom Porterfield]

Bill,

THe Product ID key can be found by going to START and then RUN

Type REGEDIT and ENTER

Once in REGEDIT go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\ProductID
This should solve your problem

The Windows Product ID will not help get Microsoft Word going again.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

In

I volunteer my time one day a week at a senior care center. People
who live there were initially placed there by loved ones because they
were not able to care for themselves due to accidents, strokes, etc. Many
improve dramatically over time and begin to live somewhat normal
lives. One person in particular was admitted following a stroke. His
grown children either stored, discarded or sold many of his
belongings. He has progressed to the point where he's beginning to
do more things with his computer such as writing, photography, etc. I
explain all of this so you'll better understand why he no longer
has any of his original disks including Office and XP. His grown
children don't know what they did with them. Yesterday, Office would
not let him continue without his first entering the product ID. Being
that he does not have his disks, he can't enter it and Office is now
disabled. He cannot continue his writing in Word. People there are
paying high assisted living costs, don't work and are on limited
income. They can't afford or even understand why they must spend a
relatively great deal of money to repurchase their software just
because they can't supply a code. I know that this question has been
asked before, but is there any way to retrieve a product ID? Again,
please forgive the lengthy explanation, but this is really an
unfortunate situation where people innocently don't have their
original disk and product ID's through no fault of their own.
Thank for any help you can give. I'm sure I will encounter this
situation again with another person at the facility.

Hi - I'm sorry about this individual, but seriously, no need to post a
lengthy back story. I wouldn't have accused you of software piracy. Check
out Keyfinder as advised, or www.belarc.com which will give you this info
and more.

 

[Bill W]

Thank you all very much for your help. This is a case where all of you have
contributed to the progress and well-being of some less fortunate people.
Thank you again.

 

[Daave]

The Windows Product ID will not help get Microsoft Word going again.

Correct. Here's what I would do:

Start > Run > regedit > OK > Edit > Find... > productid > Find Next.

Keep on clicking F3 (a keyboard shortcut for Find Next) until you find
your Product ID. In my case, it was found at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Registration\{911304...C9}\ProductID

Look in the Data column, and there's your Microsoft Office Product ID!

But here's another suggestion:

Download, install, and run Belarc Advisor (
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html ). This will give you a wealth
of information. Run it on all your PCs and jot down your Product IDs and
Keys for *everything* (operating system, office applications, etc.),
which can be found toward the bottom of the report under Software
Licenses. Then scotch tape the information to each computer for future
reference.

Good luck!