Lost jacket with KEY

[bzawwin]

I bought and installed (upgrade frm Home Edition) XP pro. Due to a computer
hang up I had to use my Recovery Disk on the computer to get back to where I
bought the computer. I have the original XP upgrade disk and the box but
somehow have misplaced the sleeve with the product key. I want to reinstall
the upgrade onto the SAME computer it was originally bought for and
installed. Am I out of luck?? HELP!

 

[JS]

Here are four utilities, all of which will display your product keys:
Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
(It does a good job of providing a wealth of information.)
Also: http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml
and: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html
and RockXP: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4138.html which has additional
features

Note: Also check the side of your PC case or bottom of the laptop for the
OEM key code. If there is a sticker with the code it will most likely not
match what is displayed by the utilities mentioned above as OEMs such as
Dell use an internal key code when they build your PC.

The key code on the sticker is for use with your Windows CD
(that hopefully came with your PC)
if you ever need to reinstall Windows.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com

 

[Big_Al]

I bought and installed (upgrade frm Home Edition) XP pro. Due to a computer
hang up I had to use my Recovery Disk on the computer to get back to where I
bought the computer. I have the original XP upgrade disk and the box but
somehow have misplaced the sleeve with the product key. I want to reinstall
the upgrade onto the SAME computer it was originally bought for and
installed. Am I out of luck?? HELP!

There are a number of programs that will read the keys of a working
system. You're lucky if you still have the working computer. But not
sure if luck has run out if you've already done the recovery.

Belarc Advisor
SIW, system information for windows

There are others.

 

[LVTravel]

I bought and installed (upgrade frm Home Edition) XP pro. Due to a
computer
hang up I had to use my Recovery Disk on the computer to get back to where
I
bought the computer. I have the original XP upgrade disk and the box but
somehow have misplaced the sleeve with the product key. I want to
reinstall
the upgrade onto the SAME computer it was originally bought for and
installed. Am I out of luck?? HELP!

If you have already used the Recovery Disk on the hard drive, you have wiped
out the copy of the key stored on the hard drive for your upgrade
installation that the products the other two posters mentioned would
recover.

To install the upgrade, you will need the original upgrade key or a
replacement key.

If you have the proper documentation see:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;326246 for
instructions on how to replace the key.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I bought and installed (upgrade frm Home Edition) XP pro. Due to a
computer
hang up I had to use my Recovery Disk on the computer to get back to where
I
bought the computer. I have the original XP upgrade disk and the box but
somehow have misplaced the sleeve with the product key. I want to
reinstall
the upgrade onto the SAME computer it was originally bought for and
installed. Am I out of luck?? HELP!

After resolving this irritating problem, plan ahead and create a printed
register of all product keys installed on your machine. They're worth a lot
of money!

 

[db.·.. >]

what might be even easier
is to use a special marker
for writing on cd's and
simply write the product
key(s) on them.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

what might be even easier
is to use a special marker
for writing on cd's and
simply write the product
key(s) on them.

While this might be easier it has a big drawback: If the OP loses not only
the jacket but the CD too then he's stuck. There have been many posters in
this newsgroup with exactly this problem. A lost CD is easily replaced,
either with a copy from a friend or by asking Microsoft for a replacement. A
lost product code **cannot*** be replaced. That's why one or several printed
copies of a product code list should be kept.