Lost product Key Code

[Jim]

My computer hard drive crashed and had top be replaced. I
have been reloading everything and am now trying to reload
my windows 2000 upgrade disk. It seems that I have lost
the cd envelope that had the product key code on it.

Is there a way with the original disc (has the holographs,
and various microsoft logo's ect) to get a replacement key
code.

This is very frustrating, and I certianly do not want to
repurchase windows 2000, since this is a computer that I
am using offline for various applications.

Does anyone know what if anything I can do.

 

[Major Malfunction]

My computer hard drive crashed and had top be replaced. I
have been reloading everything and am now trying to reload
my windows 2000 upgrade disk. It seems that I have lost
the cd envelope that had the product key code on it.

Is there a way with the original disc (has the holographs,
and various microsoft logo's ect) to get a replacement key
code.

This is very frustrating, and I certianly do not want to
repurchase windows 2000, since this is a computer that I
am using offline for various applications.

Does anyone know what if anything I can do.

Presumably you registered with Microsoft. Why not call Tech Support?

 

[Guest]

Actually, I never registered. This was going on a machine
that I use seldom, and it did not seem inportant at the
time.

I guess lazy is the word.

My mistake.

Jim

 

[Josef Stalin]

Presumably you registered with Microsoft. Why not call Tech Support?

I can't think of one piece of software that I've purchased that I bothered
to register.
Come to think of it, I've never filled in any of the registration cards that
come with boxed items that I have bought either. I'm not that anal.

Never presume.

 

[Bob I]

Try the numbers provided here

How to Replace Lost, Broken, or Missing Microsoft Software or Hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[ln];326246

 

[Warren C. E. Austin]

If, and I say, only if, you at one time or another backed up your prior W2K system files, and happened to include the file entitled "$winnt$.inf" found residing inside the SYSTEM32 folder, you just might get lucky; but again, only if, that backup was created after the first install, and not after any subsequent re-install, or restore, where this file gets routinely overwritten during either of those processes.

Under certain circumstances (usually an upgrade to W2K effected initially from within whatever prior version of Windows you may have been running at the time, typically with your having inserted the W2K CD-ROM into the machine whilst sitting at the standard Windows Desktop and your being advised "This version of Windows appears to be more recent than that which is currently installed on your system", and subsequently being asked "Do you want to Upgrade?", and then only with certain builds of the OEM version (Build 2195 being one of these), Windows'2000 will have embedded your Product Key under the [User] Profile area of that INF.

I have taken to manually inserting this information into this file (using any standard ASCII Text-editor), where it has not been included, for whatever reason, and backing up this file, alone, to a floppy, setting it aside for safe keeping.

Warren C. E. Austin
Toronto, Canada