Finding product key in registry

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I have a screwed up registry (it came off a different computer) and havent
been able to figure out how to repair it from the microsoft forums so I will
probably have to repair it from a copy of a Windows 2000 install disc I was
using for SFCs on this system (which came with a recovery disc I no longer
have)

I have BartPE and want to get the product key out of the registry to put in
when asked for it by the repair installation. Does anyone know where to
find it in which file on Windows 2000 please? It isn't in system or
user.dat in WINNT or WINNT\SYSTEM32 (which dont seem to exist in 2000)
 
Many thanks but my problem is that I cant start up the computer and
therefore can't use the utility. I need to repair it before I can use the
unit so I probably need to read the key off the registry with something on
BartPE?
 
AFAIK you won't get it from a dead operating system.

You'll find them in
%windir%\system32\config

the current_user hive is in
%userprofile%\ntuser.dat

The last reg backup files in
%windir%\repair\RegBack

and the original as-installed files in
%windir%\repair

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I have a screwed up registry (it came off a different computer) and havent
| been able to figure out how to repair it from the microsoft forums so I
will
| probably have to repair it from a copy of a Windows 2000 install disc I
was
| using for SFCs on this system (which came with a recovery disc I no longer
| have)
|
| I have BartPE and want to get the product key out of the registry to put
in
| when asked for it by the repair installation. Does anyone know where to
| find it in which file on Windows 2000 please? It isn't in system or
| user.dat in WINNT or WINNT\SYSTEM32 (which dont seem to exist in 2000)
|
|
 
So is there no way of doing this legally? Can I not get the existing key out
of the OS using BartPE in some way or should I be able to use BartPE as a
platform and run the keyfinder from a floppy?
 
In news.microsoft.com <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
So is there no way of doing this legally? Can I not get the existing
key out of the OS using BartPE in some way or should I be able to use
BartPE as a platform and run the keyfinder from a floppy?
Click to expand...

Actually that's your best option. Boot to your BartPE disk and just use a
copy of the keyfinder (one below will work well hopefully) to recover the
key. It should work like a champ I suspect but I've never actually tried it.
I use ERD and that's generally been my solution for booting but I never lose
my product key so that's not been a problem for me yet.

ProduKey - Recover Office/Windows CD-Key:
http://nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

That one is pretty small and works as well as the other one that was listed.
I use that one as my recommendation because the one mentioned in another
post (this doesn't apply to you) has trouble getting the Office 2003 key in
it's release version though it's beta version does just fine. This one, from
nirsoft.net, does a great job at it.

Galen
--

"You know that a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his
trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will
come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all."

Sherlock Holmes
 
I use ERD and that's generally been my solution for booting but I never
lose
my product key so that's not been a problem for me yet.

ProduKey - Recover Office/Windows CD-Key:
http://nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

That one is pretty small and works as well as the other one that was
listed.
Click to expand...

Yes, thank you for your posting, that did it: The other one gave me the
error message that it can't run because it can't find some XP txt file.

The switches are quite tricky: Just double-clicking on the file will give
you the generic serial number of the platform you are using (BartPE?) which
it calls a KEY. Thinking that this is the key is not really good enough.
You have to use the /WINDIR switch and then it gives you everything,
including even an IE key which I didn't know actually existed. (I can't see
any reason for a key on freeware, unless Microsoft think they are preparing
us for licensing of IE someday??)

Now I will have to do some experimentation with repairing my installation to
ascertain whether I can actually use this key with my copy 2000 installation
disc (I suppose the keys match the installations as they do in XP) or if I
have to (or need to) use a generic one and then change the generic one in
the registry for this genuine one after I have the system up and running.
 
In news.microsoft.com <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Yes, thank you for your posting, that did it: The other one gave me
the error message that it can't run because it can't find some XP txt
file.
The switches are quite tricky: Just double-clicking on the file will
give you the generic serial number of the platform you are using
(BartPE?) which it calls a KEY. Thinking that this is the key is
not really good enough. You have to use the /WINDIR switch and then
it gives you everything, including even an IE key which I didn't know
actually existed. (I can't see any reason for a key on freeware,
unless Microsoft think they are preparing us for licensing of IE
someday??)
Now I will have to do some experimentation with repairing my
installation to ascertain whether I can actually use this key with my
copy 2000 installation disc (I suppose the keys match the
installations as they do in XP) or if I have to (or need to) use a
generic one and then change the generic one in the registry for this
genuine one after I have the system up and running.
Click to expand...

Whew... *wipes brow* I wasn't entirely certain if that one would pull it
out. It's good to know but it seemed logical that it would.

Now, I'm not sure but you seem to be mistaken perhaps? An XP Home Retail or
Pro Retail will work with any other XP Home or Pro CD (repectively, Home
will not work with Pro of course) and by no means do you have to use the
exact same key with the exact same CD only the exact same key with the exact
same OS. People have, in the past, lost their CD, the solution is to run off
to a friend's house, grab their CD, make a backup of it, and then use that
to install.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)

"You know that a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his
trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will
come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all."

Sherlock Holmes
 
Now, I'm not sure but you seem to be mistaken perhaps? An XP Home Retail
or
Pro Retail will work with any other XP Home or Pro CD (repectively, Home
will not work with Pro of course) and by no means do you have to use the
exact same key with the exact same CD only the exact same key with the
exact
Click to expand...

I thought that there was some difference between a Compaq and another OEM
and a normal home key and that one would not work with the other but you
might be right on this, I dont know: But I am using Windows 2000 and am not
sure which install disc will work with which original install: My orig
install wasnt OEM and my copy install disc isnt either but I am receiving
the error messages that this install disc cannot repair my installation: To
wit (and to copy what shows as the body of the message above this one. DO
NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE READ THAT ONE):

I can now get into the repair setup by pressing repair twice but whatever I
do,
I always get an INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE BSOD on rebooting using the hard
drive.

During the repair, this copy disc did check the boot sector and presumably
repaired it
and went through its procedures but gave me some error messages telling me
that values in the .sif file that setup uses is missing or corrupt: Value 0
on the line in Setup in Section [SourceDiskFile] with the key ipp_0016.asp.
Unable to copy
Then the same cannot copy error message with 0012, 0011, 0009, 0008, and
with numerous similar files called .cer as well as the .zip files of the
same name: classes.cer, msjdbc.zip, osp.zip, tclasses.zip, tclasses.cer,
dx3.zip, tx3.cer, wfc.cer and wfc.zip

Is this a known issue or is it something I can repair with the Recovery
Console or by making the disc bootable again with Partition Commander or
with fdisk /mbr or something please?
 
In news.microsoft.com <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Now, I'm not sure but you seem to be mistaken perhaps? An XP Home
Retail or
Pro Retail will work with any other XP Home or Pro CD (repectively,
Home will not work with Pro of course) and by no means do you have
to use the exact same key with the exact same CD only the exact same
key with the exact
Click to expand...

I thought that there was some difference between a Compaq and another
OEM and a normal home key and that one would not work with the other
but you might be right on this, I dont know: But I am using Windows
2000 and am not sure which install disc will work with which original
install: My orig install wasnt OEM and my copy install disc isnt
either but I am receiving the error messages that this install disc
cannot repair my installation: To wit (and to copy what shows as the
body of the message above this one. DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE
READ THAT ONE):
I can now get into the repair setup by pressing repair twice but
whatever I do,
I always get an INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE BSOD on rebooting using the
hard drive.

During the repair, this copy disc did check the boot sector and
presumably repaired it
and went through its procedures but gave me some error messages
telling me that values in the .sif file that setup uses is missing or
corrupt: Value 0 on the line in Setup in Section [SourceDiskFile]
with the key ipp_0016.asp. Unable to copy
Then the same cannot copy error message with 0012, 0011, 0009, 0008,
and with numerous similar files called .cer as well as the .zip files
of the same name: classes.cer, msjdbc.zip, osp.zip, tclasses.zip,
tclasses.cer, dx3.zip, tx3.cer, wfc.cer and wfc.zip

Is this a known issue or is it something I can repair with the
Recovery Console or by making the disc bootable again with Partition
Commander or with fdisk /mbr or something please?
Click to expand...

I'd give the RC a chance with the fixmbr command first.

Description of the Windows 2000 Recovery Console:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;229716

That is, assuming you're certain the drive is good to go. Is it recognized
in the BIOS with the correct size? Are the jumpers positioned properly and
seated firmly? Is it a SATA drive that needs drivers installed first?

With 2k (I'm not sure of the legalicy here so I'm guessing) OEM install
disks were, IIRC, the same as full retail disks with the exception of maybe
a few extra applications and a few files for help swapped out. I could be
mistaken on that though so I'm not too sure. From what you're describing I'm
not too inclined to think it's the install media that's the issue but rather
an underlying problem such as the above, a misconfigured/corrupted MBR
perhaps? Improper drivers if they're needed? A HDD gone South for the
winter?

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)

"You know that a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his
trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will
come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all."

Sherlock Holmes
 
"> I'd give the RC a chance with the fixmbr command first.
Description of the Windows 2000 Recovery Console:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;229716

That is, assuming you're certain the drive is good to go. Is it recognized
in the BIOS with the correct size? Are the jumpers positioned properly and
seated firmly? Is it a SATA drive that needs drivers installed first?
Click to expand...

This is a far easier situation: I have put a drive from another computer
with the 'wrong' chipsets in this box. Everything was fully functional in
the old computer whose mobo went south. Now I just need to marry up the OS
with the chipsets from the new box. I thought that the repair install would
repair anything which was wrong with the install. It did say it was doing a
full repair on the mbr while it was repairing everything else. (I know this
isn't how you are supposed to do this but I am simply trying to avoid
spending a week or two reinstalling all the configs, the os and everything
else on the hard drive)
 
In news.microsoft.com <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
"> I'd give the RC a chance with the fixmbr command first.

This is a far easier situation: I have put a drive from another
computer with the 'wrong' chipsets in this box. Everything was fully
functional in the old computer whose mobo went south. Now I just need
to marry up the OS with the chipsets from the new box. I thought that
the repair install would repair anything which was wrong with the
install. It did say it was doing a full repair on the mbr while it
was repairing everything else. (I know this isn't how you are
supposed to do this but I am simply trying to avoid spending a week
or two reinstalling all the configs, the os and everything else on
the hard drive)
Click to expand...

Hmm... Should work okay then??? Are you following these steps?

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows 2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292175

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)

"You know that a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his
trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will
come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all."

Sherlock Holmes
 
Hmm... Should work okay then??? Are you following these steps?
How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows 2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292175
Click to expand...


What is worrying me a bit is that I have followed this method about three
times and tried every permutation of manual, fast repair recovery etc and it
has repaired everything properly and it always leaves me with the
inaccessible_boot_device BSOD.

Strikes me that there must be something very minor wrong which I would have
thought someone in the setup_deployment group could identify? I am not
entirely sure I have actually tried fdisk /mbr (I cant figure out how to do
this in XP, Win98 boot discs won't let me do this and the recovery console
won't accept the administrator password which is ENTER) although I can't see
fdisk /mbr assisting if I can actually get into the startup screen so far as
to select normal/safe mode and the unit then goes to the black and white
windows start screen, gets 90% to the end of the horizontal white line
ribbon at the bottom and THEN starts pretending that there is an
inaccessible boot device.

Time isn't an issue but if the Microsoft repair program thinks it has done a
full repair and leaves this problem in place, I wonder if an upgrade to XP
would correct this problem or, again, leave it in place?

I wonder if the system reads the boot record BEFORE or AFTER it goes to that
first black and white Windows 2000 screen? I have a strong suspicion that
it reads from the master boot record before it starts seeing Windows
installed and the BSOD message is a complete red herring. A bit like 'IE
CANT FIND THE DNS YOU HAVE ENTERED' which has nothing whatsoever to do IE or
with reading DNSs and actually means ) 'YOUR WHOLE SYSTEM IS NOT CONNECTED
TO THE INTERNET'
 
Why would you want to install XP? Most of the software developers
I worked with tried it, did not like it, and went back to Win2Kpro.
It is a more stable platform. When they gave me a new XP machine
at work, I had more crashes and problems than my Win2K SP4 at
home. Before XP, I had NT4 as an OS at work. Another stable
platform.
I have had similar problems with the microsloth repair console.
I just gave up and did a fresh new install of Win2K. Did the job.
 
I've just recently had the same problem (Gigabyte motherboard fried) and
like you tried unsuccessfully every variant of the repair/reinstall
options. My eventual solution was inspired by
http://tinyurl.co.uk/h3by
.... standing in for ...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822052
.... Section:
"A "Stop 0x0000007B" error message occurs after you move the system
disk to another computer"
.... with further reference to the registry hive loading and editing in
Section:
"You receive a "Stop 0x0000007B" error message when you try to
start your computer after you move the dynamic hard disk"

The HDs in this PC are SATA. The original Gigabyte mobo needed special
drivers to run the SATA drives, as evidenced by needing to press <F6> and
supply a floppy with the drivers when booting from the W2K CD-ROM, while
the replacement 'sees' the SATA drives as being IDE, needing no special
drivers.

I already had a Ghost backup image of the original system HD taken before
the original mobo completely failed.

1) I copied the original System Registry in the file %WinDir%
\System32\Config\SYSTEM (where %WinDir% usually = C:\WINNT) to another HD
- this can only be done via the recovery console because the file is
locked while Windows is running.

2) I formatted the HD and did a fresh minimum install of W2K.

3) I copied the new System Registry to the other HD as before.

4) I rebooted into the new install, and made backup copies of
both these copies (to save copying them out again if I muffed it)

5) I ran Regedt32.exe, and loaded the two saved hives as, say
Old and New, and also ran Regedit.

6) In Regedit, I copied the entries from ...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\New\MountedDevices
.... to ...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Old\MountedDevices
I did this by deleting all the Old entries, exporting the New entries
into a *.reg file, editing the file to change all strings \New\ to \Old\
and then reimporting it again.

7) I painstakingly compared the keys ...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\<New|Old>\ControlSet00?\Control
\CriticalDeviceDatabase (where ? is 1, 2, and/or 3)
.... to see what HD devices might be present in the New registry but not
the Old. The crucial one I found was ...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\New\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase
\pci#cc_0101
.... the entries of which I copied to Old as above.

8) I closed Regedit, unloaded the hives from Regedt32, and
closed that, leaving the edited SYSTEM file on the other hard disk.

9) I Ghosted back the original image

10) I ran the recovery console, backed up the original SYSTEM
file, copied in the edited one, and rebooted.

Bingo!

If you don't have Ghost &/or a backup image, you should be able to do
something similar with two HDs.

Good job you changed the name of the thread, spotting the inaccessible-
etc was the perfect excuse I needed to document the solution before I
forgot it!
 
I've had a customer with this problem with an Asus K8S-MX motherboard. It
was caused by the system booting too fast with a Maxtor ATA133 hard drive.
I had him lower the UDMA mode to 5 from 6 and it worked fine, can't be on
Auto either. Perhaps you will be lucky and this will work for you too.
This is actually needed to be done with this motherboard and any ATA133 IDE
drive.
 
In news.microsoft.com <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
What is worrying me a bit is that I have followed this method about
three times and tried every permutation of manual, fast repair
recovery etc and it has repaired everything properly and it always
leaves me with the inaccessible_boot_device BSOD.

Strikes me that there must be something very minor wrong which I
would have thought someone in the setup_deployment group could
identify? I am not entirely sure I have actually tried fdisk /mbr (I
cant figure out how to do this in XP, Win98 boot discs won't let me
do this and the recovery console won't accept the administrator
password which is ENTER) although I can't see fdisk /mbr assisting if
I can actually get into the startup screen so far as to select
normal/safe mode and the unit then goes to the black and white
windows start screen, gets 90% to the end of the horizontal white
line ribbon at the bottom and THEN starts pretending that there is an
inaccessible boot device.
Time isn't an issue but if the Microsoft repair program thinks it has
done a full repair and leaves this problem in place, I wonder if an
upgrade to XP would correct this problem or, again, leave it in
place?
I wonder if the system reads the boot record BEFORE or AFTER it goes
to that first black and white Windows 2000 screen? I have a strong
suspicion that it reads from the master boot record before it starts
seeing Windows installed and the BSOD message is a complete red
herring. A bit like 'IE CANT FIND THE DNS YOU HAVE ENTERED' which has
nothing whatsoever to do IE or with reading DNSs and actually means )
'YOUR WHOLE SYSTEM IS NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET'
Click to expand...

I doubt that an upgrade to XP would be the advice that I'd give at this
point. The OS doesn't read the disk until after the POST but as soon as the
POST is over it's pulling information from the HDD. If you're making it that
far into the OS it's not a MBR issue and it's likely not the boot process
itself. It could be, and this is just a stab in the dark here, your drive
itself. I'm assuming you've selected the safe mode at one point or another
and that has been no better? I'd be really concerned with the integrity of
the drive were I in your shoes. If there's data on the drive I'd slave it to
a known good PC, slam it with a malware scan, and copy the stuff over to the
other drive and consider a format. It's not what you wanted but it's worth a
look. Another person, by the name of Bob, suggested something along the
lines of slowing it down from UDMA 6 to UDMA 5 which, ironically enough,
just might be the kick it needs. It might very well be that the drive itself
is unsupported. A BIOS update, if available, *might* correct that but you
could at least look and see if it's an option. I'm guessing you've already
triple checked the cables. Have you tried a random drive (known good) in the
box? That's always another option that you can consider if you have time and
inclination. I'd really go with backing up the data, a low level fomat using
the tools provided by the drive manufacturer, and a clean installation to
see.

Makes me curious...

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)

"You know that a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his
trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will
come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all."

Sherlock Holmes
 
Here is what I found: I made a new partition on the drive and copied
everything to that partition as a backup

But then when I tried to do an upgrade install, I discovered that there is a
mysterious 7 meg boot partition on the drive

It doesn't show up anywhere else but I wonder if the repair is repairing the
OS on C while the system is looking to the boot partition for something like
its file allocation table when it checks the software?

You are right, I cant get to safe mode either: On both startups, as I
mentioned the system gets 90% to the right on the white bars ribbon on the
first black and white w2k start screen and then BSODs
 
That sounds like it might well be my exact problem: New drive, slightly
older system: Boots and starts windows before not being able to process
information sufficiently

(Now I have to figure out how to lower the UDMA on a Gateway Performance
933. Don't remember seeing anything about this in the bios??)
 
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