Easiest Way to Recover XP and Vista Product Key from Dead or Unbootable Windows
Author: Raymond10 Aug
As a computer tech guy, two things that I find very important is the speed of solving a computer problem and also convenience. I don’t want to be wasting the whole day trying to solve one problem and the customer sees me as unprofessional. Convenience in a way I don’t want to tire myself in opening up dirty and dusty computer case, swapping hard drives and etc.
Very frequently I had to reinstall Windows for people. One very common annoying problem that I always face is the user lost his license sticker and I had to spend more time in retrieving the genuine Windows product key. There are a few ways to do it and most of them involves me having access to another working computer. For example, taking out the hard drive and fix it to a working machine, load the registry and retrieve the product key. Or I can boot up PCRegedit, load the registry and then decrypt the key from a working computer. All those steps are very time consuming and troublesome.
I tried very hard to look for a linux live CD that can retrieve the license key but I couldn’t find one. But here’s my opinion on the simplest and most convenient way to retrieve XP or Vista product key from an unbootable machine.
All I need to do is set up a UBCD4Win livecd, boot up the computer with it and run either Joshua’s Key Reader or Keyfinder. Setting up UBCD4Win could take a while, so here’s a guide on how to create your UBCD4Win livecd.
1. Download UBCD4Win (250+MB) and install it on your computer.
2. Run UBCD4Win.
3. You need to select the source at UBCD4Win. Insert Windows XP installation disc and select your CD drive. If you don’t have Windows XP installation disc but your manufacturer provides a i386 folder in your C drive, then select C:\i386
4. Insert a blank CD, select Burn to CD/DVD and click Build. The whole process should take a while so go have a coffee.
Now to recover Windows product key, all you need to do is boot up the unbootable computer with UBCD4Win. Follow the instructions until you get to a part where it looks like Windows. Go to Start > Programs > System Information > Info. and Diag. Tools > You can either use Joshua’s Key Reader or Keyfinder
A. If you run Keyfinder, go to Tools > Load Hive… and select the Windows folder which is normally at C:\Windows and the genuine Windows Key will be display at the right pane.
B. If you run Joshua’s Key Reader, click the Read Remote Key button. Same thing as above, select Windows folder which is normally at C:\Windows. The Windows Product Key will be shown.
This method confirm to work on Windows XP and Vista 32-bit because I’ve tested it. See, all it took is one CD to do the job. Don’t need to have access on another working computer to decrypt the ProductID, or the hassle of taking out the hard drive and fixing on another computer. I noticed something weird on my Acer laptop running Windows Vista. The product key that is retrieved from the registry hive is different from the license sticker at the bottom of the laptop and I am very sure that the Vista is installed from the recovery partition. Anybody knows anything about this?
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27 Responses for "Easiest Way to Recover XP and Vista Product Key from Dead or Unbootable Windows"
because all OEMs use oem keys. the key on your Acer are not activate for use yet.
there are tools to extract the vista oem keys and cerf files
Thanks Ray for the tip.
Your serial is different due to OEM installation procedure. While they used a generic key, they provided you with your own personal key on the sticker. I did the same observation using Nir Sofer Key recovery tool on my fujitsu-siemens laptop…
Nice post!
Thanks!
Thanks for this info Raymond and many will find it useful. If this do not function for vista then why?
When you buy a laptop preloaded with Windows, the installed version i pre-activated with a manufacturer-certificate. The label on your laptop is just a valid XP-key, which is possible to install on a different machine(using the OEM-version)!
So actually you get 2 keys when a laptop is preloaded with the OEM version…
Thanks, have known about this for some time but it does work well. A small tip is to disable the apps you don’t want on the CD through the Plugins button so the final ISO is much smaller.
To answer your different serial question, all major PC makers use generic keys to install OS’s at the factory. The serial the keyfinder pulls for you is the key for all ACER machines with the same OS and is pretty useless if you want to do a clean install. The sticker serial is only for your machine and for you to use if doing a clean install yourself. Hope this helps.
Good one ray. But I prefer Activation Backup and Restore. Its a small utility which extracts OEM product key and activation license for safekeeping for Windows Vista. Great tool if you want to do a clean install without OEM bloat
How about putting the serial back? i have lost the cd of my ibm thinkpad however i still have the sticker with me but when i reisnatll with another cd, it wont allow me to use the serial at the back of my laptop, any suggestions?
My experience with Dell confirm what Niels says. My Vista Bussiness key in recovery partition is not as the same as the sticker on the back of my laptop. There are two oem key for vista bus, I use the same method of this article to get the one that use. After that I always install vista. Install dell cert. And then put that OEM key. After all it is what DELL give me.
Hi Raymond, I have a question for you: What is the best software to create a CD menu and it’s free, I do not have money to buy commercial software, I have to create a menu on a cd to deliver a project University, the menu must have picture of the project and open Office 2007 documents and Powerpoint presentations. Raymond, thanks for holding this important forum on the web and share your knowledge with us. From Venezuela, Nicky.
LOOK AT HERE RAYMOND
http://directedge.us/content/abr-activation-backup-and-restore
Raymond:
The phenomenon of being able to recover a working product serial number from a Windows XP Installation Disk that is different from the serial number found on the genuine Microsoft product sticker has been known to me for several years. I have 3 computers running Windows XP Home Edition and 2 computers running Windows XP Pro editions. My 5 Windows installation disk contain a variety of associated service product upgrades. Apparently the situation of having different product serial numbers is not related to any specific service product upgrade.
As an example, my Windows XP operating system disks at the following configurations:
1. Windows XP Home Edition
2. Windows XP Home Edition SP1
3. Windows XP Home Edition SP 2
4. Windows XP Pro SP1
5. Windows XP Pro SP 2
All of the above computers were purchased directly from Dell Computer and had their green Microsoft stickers affixed to the computer case at this time that I unpacked them. In every case the number on the sticker is different from the number that I retrieved from the hard drive after Windows has been installed on the computer.
I have never compared the various numbers on the stickers with the retrieved numbers pulled from a correctly operating hard drive except for the case of making a comparison using only one computer at a time. That is, I have never looked at all 5 sets of numbers to see if an obvious pattern exists.
Please allow me to comment on several interesting facts related to the reinstallation of Windows XP on all 5 computers. I had occasion to reinstall Windows at least once on all 5 computers. Several of the computers have had Windows reinstalled on them too many times for me to even come up with a guess of how many installations they have had. I’ll summarize a few of the facts in the following paragraph.
As stated earlier, Windows XP has been installed on all computers with the Windows installation disc that came with each individual computer. At least one installation was made using the official product serial number taken from the Microsoft sticker pasted on the outside of the computer case. In every case Windows XP was successfully reinstalled using the number located on the green Microsoft sticker.
Four of the computers have had one or more reinstallation of the operating system using a number retrieved from their internal hard drive using a third-party program (there are a number of programs available on the Web that will read a product serial number from an operating Windows XP installation).
On at least one of the computers different third-party programs returned different product serial numbers from the same hard drive. Truth is stranger than fiction. The two serial numbers retrieved from the third-party serial number retrieval programs allowed me to install Windows XP using the CD furnished by Dell for that computer. Remember also the product serial number printed on a sticker allowed reinstallation as well.
There is a rather interesting set of circumstances involving the recovery of the serial number in a way that was completely different from using a third-party program or sticker retrieval method. This story needs to be for a different time.
I have obviously left out many details on how all of the above was done and the specific third-party programs used. Further study of the phenomenon of different product serial numbers all working to unlock the same copy of Windows XP Operating System installation programs would be exciting for me and possibly others. As I wrote this short article I noticed several areas where further investigation could help in the discovery of how this works.
Everything that I said above is completely true. It is easy to test my assertions yourself. All copies of the Windows XP operating system were legitimate licensed copies that passed Microsoft’s activation procedure as well as the online checks that Microsoft makes before allowing the downloading of certain files from the Microsoft website.
Hey Raymond
I’m not too sure, but I think you could use OphCrack for this
http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
Check it out
hi raymond!! is there any way to retrieve licence key from a retail xp pro cd. i neva used the cd on any pc b4 n cannot find the product key.
i have lost the cd of my ibm thinkpad however i still have the sticker with me but when i reisnatll with another cd, it wont allow me to use the serial at the back of my laptop, any suggestions?..
This happends to me once. any explanation?
But when i use a cd of another machime (oem disc) i work perfectly and i do not have to put any serial. Really strange to me.
cesinham > you probably tried to reinstall from a non-OEM CD and/or a CD of another Windows edition. As an example, if a Pro edition was preinstalled on your computer, only an OEM Pro edition CD can be used to reinstall it using the serial at the back of your laptop. OEM (or non-OEM) Home edition CD, or non-OEM Pro edition CD just don’t work.
I confirm all that have been said about the serial you can retrieve from a Dell/HP/Compaq/Acer/Asus/Toshiba/whatever preinstalled unit : i noticed that point some months ago, and assumed it is a generic VLK key, so it can’t be used to reinstall from a generic OEM install CD (the retrieved licence key is invalid when the installation process asks for it).
FriedFrog > I’d really appreciate to know what kind of CD you used to reinstall… ? My guess is that you used the specific “restoration CD” that came with each of your computer. Right ?
thewisecrab > Ophcrack is for cracking windows passwords. Though it may be useful (many users just forget their own password – if they insist, they just may block their user account), it has nothing to do with licence key retrieval. UltimateBootCD has a tool for that (namely “Offline NT Password & Registry Editor”), that can blank a user’s password.
Why burn a CD just to crack a password when you may have a password blanker together with a lot more apps ?
(my apologies for the double post)
Different key is due to System Locked Preinstallation (SLP) key that OEMs use. No activation required if the hardware certificate matches (OEMBIOS.* in the case of XP). If the XP OEMBIOS files don’t match it will prompt for activation, and it will fail if you try activating an SLP key. I talk a bit more in the “back up Vista OEM Activation” post.
UBCD4Win is so incredibly useful, and proves itself once again.
There are a few ways to do it and most of them involves me having access to another working computer.
Hey i am not sure as well but if you want to recover any thing from your drive you can use Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery software which is made for recovering any data or information which were deleted or corrupted on your drive.This tool is quite helpful and efficient…Give a try may be it will help…
I tried and tried, followed your directions to the T”. each time I ran UBCD4Win. on the unbootable pc it; 1) does’nt allow my mouse to work and; 2) brings up a weird menu to select (what I belive to be different modes) but no options work. I never get to the “windows” >start that you described. Does the hard drive on the unbootable pc need to be wiped clean? Ive burnt the boot cd 3 times and each has the same results. any suggestions?
add to^^^^Its the “preshell-ubcd4win-version by joshua”, it wants a selection of shell to start and none seem to work, no mouse use, only keyboard.
Hi great info here- thanks- I was wondering if anyone here can advise what to do?? I purchased a dell optiplex (2nd user) & the idiot who sold it to me ripped the xp reg key sticker off, & in he also installed some other OS (like a evaulation copy of windows 7, now I cant retrieve the legitimate product key
I tried installing XP from another machine but WGA fails on updates & on the MS page it redirects to it asks me to pay £98 for a genuine key. I dont see why MS doesnt have two stickers with product key on the machine (On some COA stickers, the print even rubs off especially on DELL laptops) So I think they should make the sticker better quality & also put one of the stickers on the inside of the machine) on a PC it can be on the inside of the removable cover & on laptops it can be inside the battery compartment. Im surprised that the key isnt hardcoded in the BIOS especially when its like one key per PC. I dont want to have to pay for something that was already paid for previously.
I have found an even easier way…
1. Download + Install the Magic Jelly Bean Keyfinder
http://magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/
2. Load up the dead O/S hard drive on to a working computer (I use an external hub I pulled a CD RW drive out of).
3. Start the keyfinder, go to Tools > Load Hive… Then point it to the Windows folder on that hard drive, and voila! The Product Key will come up in a few seconds!
I have a question.
When I bought a computer, my computer dealer did not give me a windows xp cd but installed windows xp sp2 genuine and gave me a cd-key.
Can i reinstall windows using that cd key.
Or can I Download windows xp genuine using that cd-key?
Anyone tried this on a Windows 2003 server yet?
i bought new dell inspiron laptop with windows 7 loaded in it . . But the hard disk contains only one partition . . I want to format the hard disk . Make partition and reinstall windows 7 . I have the cd given by dell . But after that how to get the genuine license validation of os of my laptop for which i have already paid while buying the laptop . . Why dont this dell manufacturers make partitions and give when buying
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