Computer Problems? Computing.Net has over 1,000,000 posts about all things technology related! Over 90% answered within 24 hours! Click here to start participating now! Also, be sure to check out the New User Guide.
retrieving microsoft's product key
Name: Lindsay Renner Date: September 28, 2001 at 14:19:42 Pacific
Comment:
i go to international school in central europe and brought my laptop with me (toshiba) but the harddisk crashed.. i used the restore cd to reinstall win98 but it asks 4 the prod key and i left the windows manual at home, its lost even so im totally blocked right now.. i was told at this comp store that it's possible to retrieve the factory key from msdos.. any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks
Name: dan Date: September 28, 2001 at 14:50:25 Pacific
Reply:
This 'might' work Boot to Dos from a floppy with edit.com on it. Edit.com can be found in c:\windows\command. Run edit.com and open c:\windows\system.pca (might not be on all systems) It will look like a bunch of garbage but that's ok. Do a search for productkey (all one word). The key will be found immediately after 'productkey'.
0
Response Number 2
Name: dan Date: September 28, 2001 at 16:14:01 Pacific
Reply:
If post#2 doesn't work. Do some searching and see if you can find a DOS Registry editor/viewer. If you can locate one, do a find for ProductKey (one word)and it will be there.
0
Response Number 3
Name: dan Date: September 28, 2001 at 16:31:28 Pacific
Reply:
I learned something. you can create a text file of the Registry in Dos. To do this, type the following: c:\windows\regedit /e c:\filename.txt The file will be too large for a floppy, so you will have to put it on the hard drive. Use 'edit' to open it and then search for ProductKey and you should see the key following it.
0
Response Number 4
Name: Frogman Date: September 28, 2001 at 20:06:55 Pacific
Reply:
If he used a restore CD wouldn't it have formatted his HDD?
Summary: "...black-on-white lettering and have a hologram around the center hub" Yes, that's true, all genuine ones do, but they have only a few tiny images. "Didn't all OEM disks originally come with a PC? ...
Summary: Hi Just to explain, I'm trying to load a full retail version of win 98 with the proper product key. When this didn't work I tried an OEM version, basicly to see if it would work, and it didn't. I've t...
Summary: My friend's computer has been already reformatted when he realizes that he lost the product key for his Win95 and Win98 Upgrade CD. Is there a way to retrieve the product keys from DOS? - Trina ...
0 
