Slashdot Mirror

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/
Run that, copy down key, reinstal. Less hassle trying to find instal keys.

Actually, there's this:

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

Which I have successfully used from Wine before. Of course I only saved the Windows XP OEM key (the sticker was illegible) and not the Photoshop one. I figured she can reinstall that if she actually has it. I also installed Ubuntu right beside Windows for good measure, and she actually uses Ubuntu to this day. Of course she has switched most of her computing activities to her Android phone, so it wasn't such a stretch.

You can EASILY extract the license key from a windows machine using a registry query...

Erm, actually you can't. As of XP, the CD key is no longer stored in the registry, just the "license number" which is derived from it (IIUC) via a one-way hashing function.

Never heard of Magical Jellybean KeyFinder, I take it?

One thing you might try is use a software product to find the license numbers.

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/ has a utility that will print out all the Microsoft license number for all the MS programs installed on the computer.

Now I am not suggesting you do that for all the computers but certainly taking a sample of machines and seeing if they're using the same license on them could help determine the true nature of the situation.

For Windows XP, C:\Windows\I386\ usually contains the installation (MS calls them 'source') files from the I386 directory of the original Windows OEM installation disc. You can use this directory to re-author an OEM disc with a little effort. Use something like WinMerge to compare this directory to a 'reference disc' (Pirate Bay) and then sort it out. Use Jelly Bean CD key finder to extract the original CD key from the registry. I've done this a handful of times and it works a treat, arguably piracy is just easier though.

Windows Vista is a doddle in comparison. Grab a copy of ABR (Activation Backup and Restore), backup your OEM activation, use any old Vista disc (Pirate Bay again) to reinstall the same edition of Vista (leaving the CD key blank during installation) and then restore activation from your backup.

I don't think there is anything illegal about the above methods.

You can use a piece of software that shows it to you (it also shows the keys for Office).
http://magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

Disclaimer: by reading this you understand and agree that everything that is written in this article is for educational use only, and none of it should be used at any circumstances, and if you choose to use this information for any kind of action you take full responsibility for it and release Anonymous Coward of any responsibility. If you do not agree to whats written here, stop reading now!

First, look on the internet for an ISO with the SHA1 66ac289ae27724c5ae17139227cbe78c01eefe40. Google or any torrent portal should turn up enough seeds. Make sure you verify the downloaded ISO, which is the MSDN XP3 Volume License ISO, as can be checked here (look for Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 - VL (x86) - CD (English) and click on Show details).

The VL versions of XP do not require activation, but do require a valid VL key entered during installation (which are different from retail and OEM keys from the stickers on your desktop/laptop). There are keygens out there that generate them (beware of trojans though!), but most keys will fail WGA checks, as they were not issued by Microsoft. What you need is a VL key from a very large institution such as big universities or corporations (which have low risk of getting blacklisted by Microsoft). If you (or someone you know) can run programs on one of these corporate/institutional systems, you can use this keyfinder to retrieve the VL key. After installing the VL disk with such a key, you'll have no problems with any WGA checks until Microsoft decides to block that key.

Not that it matters, I can pull your keys for a lot of programs if i feel the need to.

(tech-repair-guy)

Try changing the key using this little tool.

IIRC it's just scripts from MS packed up in a nice easy front-end. I've used it several times with success.

If the two keys are for the same version of Windows, i.e. one isn't for the corporate XP Pro and one for the retail XP Pro, you might be able to do this with Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder. It makes it trivially easy to change your key.

On the serious side: download http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml's keyfinder. No need to reboot the system, no need to even install the file! Just change the number to the new valid one, save it and you're totally legit.

On the funnier side... the only way to fix Windows XP is to completely remove it for something better... like an OpenSource operating system.

As already pointed out, this method only works with the VLKs. To change the key in any version of XP, use the Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder.

My new laptop came loaded with a ton of scumware. Solution: wipe the hard drive and reinstall windows. The recovery cds dilligently reinstall all the scumware, so my only option is to run a pirated version of Windows.

Better solution: Download A Keyfinder, grab your product key from your Windows install, then format and reinstall from a same-edition Windows CD.

Or: Contact OEM support about how to get the normal Windows CD that you deserve. If they won't send you one, don't buy from them again.

Try this:

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

Does the same thing.

Well the cost of customers having viruses and spyware maybe but not the license :-)

Some of the time thats the fault of the OEM's. Some even come with (spy|crap)ware out of the box ffs. A friend of mine recently bought a cheap OEM machine which had SP2 installed just fine, but not a single hotfix since. Spybot S&D found several (albeit minor) issues straight away.

Worse still is most OEM's give you a rubbish recovery disc that restores this poor condition, with no Windows disc to be found. (I always use Magic Jelly Bean's keyfinder, to find the CDKEY used by the OEM, and burn off an XP OEM disc myself, with SP2 and all the post-SP2 hotfixes slipsteamed using nLite. For my friend I also made his disc as unattended as possible and included some useful batch files and drivers)

If you want to avoid the second issue you mentioned you have to goto a small time box builder that'll give you a quality installation, unfortunately I suspect you're going to get hit with the real cost of the Windows license.

You do realize that it took more effort to tell people you're too lazy to make it a link than it would have taken to actually make it a link, don't you?

See?

If you hadn't reinstalled already, I'd have suggested you use a key finder. Then you could have used your own code with your friend's disk. Of course, if the system was trashed, I guess this wouldn't have helped either.

With regard to your question as to how to find out what your key is... Check out this site for a utility known as "Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder" -- pretty nifty piece of freeware that finds it in the registry for you.

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

Hope that you find this tool to be useful.