How to Recover XP CD Key from an Unbootable System

You know the scenario your computers playing up and you need to reinstall xp. Only problem is you did not keep the licence sticker and now you can't boot windows to find the key. so what do you do ? This info will help any one with the same problems

first you will need some things
1 a working xp computer of the same version ie home or pro
2 a bartpe boot cd HERE http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
3 keyfinder.exe from HERE http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml/
4 LoadHive from HERE http://www.matcode.com/codes.htm/
5 some floppy disks

then
6. Booted dead system from PE CD.
7. put LoadHive on a floppy.
8. Ran it from the floppy in PE, loaded C:\WINDOWS\System32\Config\software ... it mounted the hive as SOFTWARE_00.
9. Ran regedit, found the SOFTWARE_00 subkey and navigated to CurrentVerion, exported that subkey to the floppy.
10. I moved to a working XP machine, backed up my DigitalProductId key. I edited the reg file from the floppy to only contain the DigitalProductId key.
11. I merged the DigitalProductId key from the floppy, ran Keyfinder (Magic Jellybean Software) and it pulled the key !
12. I merged the backup I made and ran Keyfinder again, and sure enough it showed my original key.

 

 

 


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