Need to find Product ID from Hard Drive

[Guest]

I need to reinstall XP because something got corrupted and it will not boot.
I don't have the product ID code or disk anymore, but it is a legit copy of
XP. Is there any place I can go to extract the Product ID from it somehow.
My data is still there, but Windows will just not boot. Or is there
something else I could do?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

If your computer is still operational:

Retrieve your Windows XP CD key
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

However, if your computer will not boot, then you cannot
obviously use the above program to find the Product Key.
In that case, proceed with the following:

How to replace lost, broken, or missing Microsoft software or hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326246/en-us

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

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:

| I need to reinstall XP because something got corrupted and it will not boot.
| I don't have the product ID code or disk anymore, but it is a legit copy of
| XP. Is there any place I can go to extract the Product ID from it somehow.
| My data is still there, but Windows will just not boot. Or is there
| something else I could do?

 

[Guest]

Well there is something else you can do and that is go out and buy an exact
copy of the windows OS you have .. (ie. OEM, Retail, or Upgrade) There is no
way to recover the product key from a non booting XP machine. However, I
would suggest trying to boot into Safemode by hitting the f8 key while
booting the machine. If successful you can get your key code by using a xp
key finder program. If you have highspeed internet you can boot into
safemode with networking and get online and go to..

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Decrypting-Decoding/WinKeyFinder.shtml
or
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

and download the program to find your key and then do a reinstall with it.
Well good luck.

Joe

Kemco IT Professional

 

[Harry Ohrn MS MVP]

Actually you can recover the key from a non booting system providing the
system isn't severely damaged i.e. damaged hard drive or formatted system.
You will need a copy of Bart's PE with the keyfinder plugin. Bart's PE
involves building a bootable CD that contains a number of tools as well as
add-ons. You can learn how to build the CD here http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

The specific keyfinder plugin is located here
http://www.geocities.com/acid_zebra/

I've used this several times when customers have non bootable systems but I
do not offer technical support for it. The skinny is simply create the
Bart's PE with the keyfinder plugin, boot the system with the CD, when
loaded click the Go button and select the app from the Programs menu. You
will have to direct the app to look in C:\Windows and the key should be
displayed.

 

[Guest]

I have a friend who has an XP CD. He said I could boot to Recovery Mode, and
maybe repair the startup files. Is this possible, and how would I go about
it?