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Product Key recovery

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6 replies

by mjnoone

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Due to a nightmare situation, a client has lost all records of ownership of win 98 1st edition.
The hard drive is failing and I need to recover the product key from the install.
Please any suggentions

6 replies

by ann777

On a Win98 computer, the porduct key can be found in the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE --> Software --> Micorostf --> Windows --> CurrentVersion

and on the right side look for ProductKey

by ann777

That was supposed to be "microsoft" NOT "micorostf" ... guess I have a habit of hitting Submit too quickly.

by thechas

You can use regedit and look in
hkey_local_machine/software/microsoft/windows/current version

The Product ID and Product key should be listed.

Note: this does not work for windows versions newer than w98se.

Also, the product key is distribution copy specific. I have 3 diferent versions of W98SE, and each requires their specific key.

Chas

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