[Resolved]Retrieving CD Key from unbootable system

**dilligaf** · 10-30-2009 07:34 PM

I have a laptop with Vista on it. It has a virus and won't boot, even in safe mode. I can remove the HD and access it as an external drive with an enclosure. I have used programs in the past that can recover the CD key from the registry, but they scan the C: drive of the computer that they are running on. How can I retrieve the key from a drive other than C:?

**Hanspuppa** · 10-30-2009 07:41 PM

I know of no recent virus that would prevent a computer from booting.

If this is the issue, I would look for some other issue causing this.

If the OS is an OEM, you could reinstall it and not need the Product Key.

If you have a Recovery Restore partition on the hard drive you could perform a Recovery Restore, or if you have the original OS disk you could perform a repair install.

Just some thoughts.

**dilligaf** · 10-30-2009 07:50 PM

It goes to the welcome screen but then so much crap is trying to load that it doesn't ever get to a usable desktop. I have the recovery CD and I think it does have a recovery partition. I would like to have the key before I do anything that could possibly wipe the drive incase it asks for it. Right now it's stored in the registry and just hard to get to. If I do a restore and get to the screen where I need it, it will be gone at that point.

BTW, that's an AWESOME setup you've got there in your signature! Blows my system away.

**Sweetorchid** · 10-30-2009 08:01 PM

Hi,

I have in the past used the Recovery Partition on my HP laptop and have never needed a key. If the windows OS was on your laptop when you bought it preinstalled you should not need any key... just recover from partition

**dilligaf** · 10-30-2009 08:22 PM

It's actually someone else's laptop that I'm trying to help them fix. Being that it's not mine I'm just being extra cautious. I want to have the key before I do anything that would erase it. I know it SHOULDN'T ask for it when using the recovery partition or the repair option on the restore CD but if/when it does, it will be too late. Right now I'm copying some stuff from the drive for them using an external enclosure and it works fine that way.

**Hanspuppa** · 10-30-2009 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by 'Jayne'

Hi,I have in the past used the Recovery Partition on my HP laptop and have never needed a key. If the windows OS was on your laptop when you bought it preinstalled you should not need any key... just recover from partition

Thanks for the compliment. I used to build all my systems, but the last two I purchased from Dell and HP, as my eyesight is failing and it is harder for me to see to build a system.

This is a HP system that I purchased and then rebuilt before I ever started to use it. I added the video card, sound card, more memory, and upgraded the power supply. As it turns out, I could have built the system cheaper than purchasing and upgrading it.

It is not as fast as you might expect. It only has a 5.9 rating due to the hard drive. The OS hard drive is a WD VelociRaptor 300 GB SATA II, so something is fishy with the way the index reads this hard drive. The other index ratings are 7.9.

The 1.5 TB Seagtae drive benchmarked higher in some benchmaks than the VelociRaptor. I'm just waiting for the SSD drives to get a little cheaper and larger, and I will go that way.

But to get back to your issue, as Jayne suggest, If it is an OEM (HP-Dell) it want need a Product Key, and as a matter of fact, you want find it in the registry.

The registry only has a hash code and not the actual readable Product Key.

If you have a OS disk, you might want to perform a repair install, but it must be the disk that came with the system or it will ask for a Product Key at somepoint.

If it has a Recovery Restore partition, that is still intact, you could use that and restore back to the way when it was manufactured. All the data would be lost that has been added.

If it is a Dell system, press the ctrland the F11 keys at bootup and it will enter the Dell Recovery Restore Utility, and proceed.

If it is a HP, just press the F11 key to enter the Recvoery Restore Utility.

Hope this help.

**dilligaf** · 10-30-2009 08:51 PM

I just found a product key finder program that has the option to search other drives. It's by Nirsoft, incase anyone else runs into this issue. Thank you all for the suggestions. I will more than likely use at least one of them, but like I said before, I just wanted to have the key first to be safe.