Product Key Info & Retrieval
As far as I know, there is no way to retrieve the
Product Key (PK) from DOS or recovery console. It
is stored in several locations (encrypted) on the
PC: in the registry it's listed as Digital Product
ID in 2 or 3 different places. It's also in the
system32\config\software folder in the windows or
winnt folder. If the OS won't load, there are at
least 2 ways of retrieving the key. One is easy,
the other not so much. Both methods require another PC with a working XP. First method is to
locate on the web and download an app called
'ProduKey'. Slave the HD in question to the work-
ing PC. View the read me file in ProduKey and type
the needed command into the Run line. The other
method invloves the importing/exporting and temporary replacement of registry keys, the use
of ERD Commander, UBCD4Win (BartsPE), or somethings similar, and a PK viewer such as Magical Jelly Bean, RockXP, ProduKey, etc and is
a royal pain in the arse! BTW- the PK viewer
mentioned elsewhere (ViewKey XP I think) only reports the correct key about half the time and
is not recommended as the wrong key will only mess
things up even worse! And Magical Jelly Bean can
trigger certain antivirus programs and it won't
run correctly either in that situation. So, use
either ProduKey or RockXP3 (which can also find
MS Office PK's!!!)
