Retrieve Win 7 serial from dead machine?

R

Raycaster

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 30, 2005
Messages
144
My Win7 machine recently died which was ok because a new machine has been needed for awhile. The only problem is that I may have misplaced my key for the windows 7 install.

I purchased the windows 7 license online during a great student deal during christmas and think I may be facing a hassle trying to get it back. They offered a "backup" solution that of course I skipped 8(. I do have the original iso backup though.

I probably have it floating around somewhere but is there a app to find my keys on a non-working computer. Could I retrieve the key from the original drive mounted externally off a laptop?

I've googled a few utils that find keys but they all seem to want to run from the original working machine.

This is a 100% legitimate question involving no piracy.

Thank you for your time.
 
yes, you'll need to dig thru the NTuser file, its a pain in the butt though
 
Thx guys, and Magic JellyBean Key Finder and... WHS.

One of the 1st google returns was JellyBean but I didn't try it originally thinking free was too good to be true.

Installed Magic Jelly Bean but as usual was hit with problems immediately.

My boot drive when booted externally gave the dreaded "Must format to read.. etc."
I was going to start searching for a Disk Doctor program but remembered that I had a backup of the drive with WHS running on an older machine for 5 months now.

With the stars aligning WHS mounted the backup and let JellyBean pull the key!

Key was identified as Windows 7 Professional, would of felt better if it was listed 64bit but it wasn't listed at 32 either. Should be fine.

I'm impressed with JellyBean and WHS and my luck. When my next build is finished I just have to switch the license with MS which has been pretty painless the few times I have done that.

Again, thanks guys.
 
There are no 32 or 64 bit keys for 7, just keys for each version so you're fine.
 
MJBF will let you pull product keys from hard drives that you attach to the system.
 
Or you can find it on the UBCD4WIN as well... or put it on a USB stick, boot off some WinPE disc (if you have one) and access it off the stick, etc etc. ;)
 
Another +1 for Jellybean. Been a staple of my toolset for years. The ability to slave drives via usb or whatever and load the hive to get the key is a great option. And also to get keys for other stuff like office and adobe (there might be more) is awesome too.
 
Raycaster said:
My Win7 machine recently died which was ok because a new machine has been needed for awhile. The only problem is that I may have misplaced my key for the windows 7 install.

I purchased the windows 7 license online during a great student deal during christmas and think I may be facing a hassle trying to get it back. They offered a "backup" solution that of course I skipped 8(. I do have the original iso backup though.

I probably have it floating around somewhere but is there a app to find my keys on a non-working computer. Could I retrieve the key from the original drive mounted externally off a laptop?

I've googled a few utils that find keys but they all seem to want to run from the original working machine.

This is a 100% legitimate question involving no piracy.

Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...

If it was the $30 student offer, you could check your e-mail. That is the original e-mail that was sent to you, which contained the product key.
 
Downloaded Magical Jelly Bean for future reference, had no idea about this product but with so many online purchased shareware type apps (DUMeter, TotalRecorder, etc etc) I think this product has potential future uses for me just in case ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top