System crashed no XP media/key

[Dan Andrews]

Hello,
I have a situation where a customer of ours has a crashed XP system and
he cannot find the media or key. Is there a way to extract the key
(keyfinder) from the data that is on the disk, by putting that disk in
another system? Once he has the key we can re-install with OEM media.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I think Keyfinder only finds the keys for the OS that is booted so I doubt
that it will detect on a disk mounted as a data disk. SIW and Everest
probably work the same way. I think the issue would be the registry that is
active. If you try and succeed please let us know as that would be
interesting.

 

[R. McCarty]

The only makeshift way I can think of is mount the drive in a working
system. Use Regedit to load the Software Hive of the non-functioning
XP instance. Run any of KeyFinder programs. Not sure it will work
but may be an option to try.

I think Keyfinder only finds the keys for the OS that is booted so I doubt
that it will detect on a disk mounted as a data disk. SIW and Everest
probably work the same way. I think the issue would be the registry that
is active. If you try and succeed please let us know as that would be
interesting.

 

[Dan Andrews]

Thanks for the quick reply Colin,
I found a post in the discussion group regarding keyfinder Beta 2.0, you
can load an external hive with this beta. I installed the disk as a slave on
a windows 2003 server, loaded keyfinder, used the load hive option and it
found the key and OS version!
--
Thanks,
Dan

I think Keyfinder only finds the keys for the OS that is booted so I doubt
that it will detect on a disk mounted as a data disk. SIW and Everest
probably work the same way. I think the issue would be the registry that is
active. If you try and succeed please let us know as that would be
interesting.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks for the quick reply Colin,
I found a post in the discussion group regarding keyfinder Beta 2.0,
you
can load an external hive with this beta. I installed the disk as a slave
on
a windows 2003 server, loaded keyfinder, used the load hive option and it
found the key and OS version!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hello,
I have a situation where a customer of ours has a crashed XP system and
he cannot find the media or key. Is there a way to extract the key
(keyfinder) from the data that is on the disk, by putting that disk in
another system? Once he has the key we can re-install with OEM media.

If you're planning on using an OEM installation disk, why not use the
OEM Product Key on the label affixed to the exterior of the computer?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[aa7homas]

You can obtain the Winxp key from a corrupt XP install as long as you
can get to the windows directory. try the following.

1. ghost the hard drive to an image.

2. extract the windows directory from the image and put it somewhere
safe i.e. myDocs.

3. Download the latest version of Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder from
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/

4. Open the Keyfinder and select "Tools>Load Hive".

5. Browse for the windows directory you extracted from the image and
click "ok"

The key will magically appear in the open window.

As I mentioned you must be able to access the Windows directory on the
target machine. If you can simply copy this directory straight off
the hard drive it will do...But if the hard drive is partially corrupt
from bad sectors, any type of access often will cause further damage.
Therefore I recommend imaging the drive first up, it will give you
more chance of data recovery too.

In terms of using OEM media this should work as long as the target pc
is not from HP, Dell or the likes.

 

[aa7homas]

If you're planning on using an OEM installation disk, why not use the
OEM Product Key on the label affixed to the exterior of the computer?

Bruce Chambers

Sometimes the OEM Key gets damaged through use. i.e. heavily used
laptops.

 

[Daave]

Sometimes the OEM Key gets damaged through use. i.e. heavily used
laptops.

True. That's what happened to my sister-in-law's laptop.