System crashed no XP media/key

Hello,
I have a situation where a customer of ours has a crashed XP system and
he cannot find the media or key. Is there a way to extract the key
(keyfinder) from the data that is on the disk, by putting that disk in
another system? Once he has the key we can re-install with OEM media.
--
Thanks,
Dan

I think Keyfinder only finds the keys for the OS that is booted so I doubt
that it will detect on a disk mounted as a data disk. SIW and Everest
probably work the same way. I think the issue would be the registry that is
active. If you try and succeed please let us know as that would be
interesting.

"Dan Andrews" <dan4u2@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:BA9F42FA-DD69-4B52-A19A-C06F3342EAC8@microsoft.com...
> Hello,
> I have a situation where a customer of ours has a crashed XP system and
> he cannot find the media or key. Is there a way to extract the key
> (keyfinder) from the data that is on the disk, by putting that disk in
> another system? Once he has the key we can re-install with OEM media.
> --
> Thanks,
> Dan

The only makeshift way I can think of is mount the drive in a working
system. Use Regedit to load the Software Hive of the non-functioning
XP instance. Run any of KeyFinder programs. Not sure it will work
but may be an option to try.

"Colin Barnhorst" <c.barnhorst@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:107BF783-5EDB-47F8-9918-3DFFA4A68823@microsoft.com...
>I think Keyfinder only finds the keys for the OS that is booted so I doubt
>that it will detect on a disk mounted as a data disk. SIW and Everest
>probably work the same way. I think the issue would be the registry that
>is active. If you try and succeed please let us know as that would be
>interesting.
>
> "Dan Andrews" <dan4u2@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
> news:BA9F42FA-DD69-4B52-A19A-C06F3342EAC8@microsoft.com...
>> Hello,
>> I have a situation where a customer of ours has a crashed XP system
>> and
>> he cannot find the media or key. Is there a way to extract the key
>> (keyfinder) from the data that is on the disk, by putting that disk in
>> another system? Once he has the key we can re-install with OEM media.
>> --
>> Thanks,
>> Dan
>

Thanks for the quick reply Colin,
I found a post in the discussion group regarding keyfinder Beta 2.0, you
can load an external hive with this beta. I installed the disk as a slave on
a windows 2003 server, loaded keyfinder, used the load hive option and it
found the key and OS version!
--
Thanks,
Dan


"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

> I think Keyfinder only finds the keys for the OS that is booted so I doubt
> that it will detect on a disk mounted as a data disk. SIW and Everest
> probably work the same way. I think the issue would be the registry that is
> active. If you try and succeed please let us know as that would be
> interesting.
>
> "Dan Andrews" <dan4u2@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
> news:BA9F42FA-DD69-4B52-A19A-C06F3342EAC8@microsoft.com...
> > Hello,
> > I have a situation where a customer of ours has a crashed XP system and
> > he cannot find the media or key. Is there a way to extract the key
> > (keyfinder) from the data that is on the disk, by putting that disk in
> > another system? Once he has the key we can re-install with OEM media.
> > --
> > Thanks,
> > Dan
>

Thanks for the feedback!

"Dan Andrews" <dan4u2@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:5E59A4BD-85F7-4E31-B871-EDC8D6684A6E@microsoft.com...
> Thanks for the quick reply Colin,
> I found a post in the discussion group regarding keyfinder Beta 2.0,
> you
> can load an external hive with this beta. I installed the disk as a slave
> on
> a windows 2003 server, loaded keyfinder, used the load hive option and it
> found the key and OS version!
> --
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>
>> I think Keyfinder only finds the keys for the OS that is booted so I
>> doubt
>> that it will detect on a disk mounted as a data disk. SIW and Everest
>> probably work the same way. I think the issue would be the registry that
>> is
>> active. If you try and succeed please let us know as that would be
>> interesting.
>>
>> "Dan Andrews" <dan4u2@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
>> news:BA9F42FA-DD69-4B52-A19A-C06F3342EAC8@microsoft.com...
>> > Hello,
>> > I have a situation where a customer of ours has a crashed XP system
>> > and
>> > he cannot find the media or key. Is there a way to extract the key
>> > (keyfinder) from the data that is on the disk, by putting that disk in
>> > another system? Once he has the key we can re-install with OEM media.
>> > --
>> > Thanks,
>> > Dan
>>

Dan Andrews wrote:
> Hello,
> I have a situation where a customer of ours has a crashed XP system and
> he cannot find the media or key. Is there a way to extract the key
> (keyfinder) from the data that is on the disk, by putting that disk in
> another system? Once he has the key we can re-install with OEM media.


If you're planning on using an OEM installation disk, why not use the
OEM Product Key on the label affixed to the exterior of the computer?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

You can obtain the Winxp key from a corrupt XP install as long as you
can get to the windows directory. try the following.

1. ghost the hard drive to an image.

2. extract the windows directory from the image and put it somewhere
safe i.e. myDocs.

3. Download the latest version of Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder from
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/

4. Open the Keyfinder and select "Tools>Load Hive".

5. Browse for the windows directory you extracted from the image and
click "ok"

The key will magically appear in the open window.

As I mentioned you must be able to access the Windows directory on the
target machine. If you can simply copy this directory straight off
the hard drive it will do...But if the hard drive is partially corrupt
from bad sectors, any type of access often will cause further damage.
Therefore I recommend imaging the drive first up, it will give you
more chance of data recovery too.

In terms of using OEM media this should work as long as the target pc
is not from HP, Dell or the likes.

On Feb 13, 11:41 am, Bruce Chambers <bchamb...@cable0ne.n3t> wrote:


> If you're planning on using an OEM installation disk, why not use the
> OEM Product Key on the label affixed to the exterior of the computer?
>
> Bruce Chambers


Sometimes the OEM Key gets damaged through use. i.e. heavily used
laptops.

aa7homas@gmail.com wrote:

> On Feb 13, 11:41 am, Bruce Chambers <bchamb...@cable0ne.n3t> wrote:

>> If you're planning on using an OEM installation disk, why
>> not use the OEM Product Key on the label affixed to the exterior of
>> the computer?

> Sometimes the OEM Key gets damaged through use. i.e. heavily used
> laptops.

True. That's what happened to my sister-in-law's laptop.