Do you know your Windows CD key off the top of your head? Didn’t think so. Do you know where it’s written down?
Don’t panic if the answer to that question is also no.There’s a utility called Winkeyfinder that can recover the key for you. Download and run it and print out your key while you’re thinking about it.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.
I’ve been using a utility called RockXP [snapfiles.com] for this for quite some time. It not only recovers your Windows Product Key but RAS passwords, other system passwords, and more. I use it to generate random passwords and back-up the product activation file so I don’t have to re-activate Windows every time I re-install.
I know this sounds kind of spammy, but I assure you this free download has really helped me out in a lot of situation with clients.
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Dustin D. Cook, A+
dcook32p@htcomp.net
Dustin,
Thanks! RockXP looks really useful, and the guy’s other stuff looks promising as well (esp. the XP sp2 related utilities).
Dustin, your recommendations are always welcome here. Thanks for the tip.