Hello all, My computer recently got messed up and just kept getting worse and worse until a point where I was running of Linux Live CDS... I couldnt install anything to my harddrive. I seem to have fixed the issue somewhat and now have linux installed, but Windows is still giving me problems. When the problem first occured I took great pains to preserve the data on my hd, but in the end something wiped out my ntfs partition and I ended up losing everything. I know the best solution is to make frequent backups but I wanted to ask a different question: First off, my manufacturer (eMachines) bundled a Restore CD with my computer which includes Windows XP Home edition. I would like to get the cdkey from this so I can reinstall Windows on my computer without losing any data if I should have any problems down the road. Does anybody know how to do this? *Note that I am NOT asking for cd keys, I am asking how I can get the one inbuilt into my restore cd. OR... is there a way to just install Windows off that CD without having it go through the format/other processes? Btw has anybody had any issues with XP SP2 where it would start giving you BSOD's that say something like "Stop c000021a" as the computer is starting up? I am wondering if this is a XP2 issue, if it is then I'll steer clear of XP2 once I get everything anew.

If the system is running get ViewKeyXP. google to it. Also belarc.com and aida32 will tell more than you want to know. Not familiar with restore CD's.

The key might be (is usually) located on a sticker somewhere on the case. Just look for it. Also, with restore CD's 9 times out of 10, it's not going to ask you for any kind of key whatsoever. It doesn't need to, as it's basically just recopying an image of what your hard drive looked like when it left the manufacturing plant.

Hey guys, I may have said it wrong but I wanted my key so I can do a standalone install of XP should I ever want to [the restore cds will format my computer, which I dont want to do]. Thx for your help so far. Any other suggestions?