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Product Key for Server 2003

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by nbaldwin

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TO make a long story short I have two HP ML350 servers that came from an office that has closed down. That office was part of a purchase by my company about a year and a half ago. So the machines were setup by another IT department. When the machines were sent to our HQ they arived with no OS CD's and do not have a sticker on the outside with product codes on them.
I need to rebuid the machines but can't get by the acitvation screen to enter the product keys. I need help if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks

2 replies

by mr.wiz

and tell them the story, they'll either give you some new codes or let you buy some.

by why me worry??

If the machines already have a Windows O/S installed, you should be able to Google a Windows XP key extractor program that will get you the product keys back. The product keys are actually stored in the registry, but are hashed into some cryptic alphanumeric string for security reasons. The software I mention takes that string from the registry and converts it back to the 25 digit CD key that was used for the software install.

Also, there may be other legal reasons why you cannot reuse that keycode because you don't legally possess the media and may have to purchase new licenses or speak to Microsoft's licensing team to have them generate you a new set of keycodes.

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