| Locate the Windows Product Key on the XP Installation CD |
| Written by mypchell.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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...CD flip book case, and that is when you realize that you have lost the product key which was provided as a little yellow sticker when you bought Windows XP. Then you panic. Well, guess what? Hope is not all lost, it is possible to locate your Product Key using nothing more than your Windows XP Installation CD. To start, you will need access to a working computer. Stick in your Windows XP Installation CD, then, when the XP Install Splash Screen pops up, click Exit. 
Then Click Start, then My Computer and find your CD Drive (mine is Drive I), right click on it and select Search 
Then type unattend.txt then click Search 
It will find the unattend.txt file and report that it is located in your main drive, don't be misled, this is the right file and it is on the CD. 
Open the unattend.txt and in it you will find your Product Key .
Write down the Product Key, now you have the key and can install XP. Similar articles
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Hits: 30699 Comments (7)
dave
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I found product key using this way, but the key will be not accepted (wrong ID)when I try to install XP from CD. There must be something alse what I´m not aware. |
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Koden
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the product key found in unattend.txt is ot the product key for the install CD but rather a prototype KEY for the very first version of windows, its the same key on every windows XP cd |
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Je
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Yes, I have tried same method, but That product key not accepting, It shows invalid product key, how can we get original key from CD ? |
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Prashanth
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hi, I have a query. Please help me. I have a bootable XP cd and the product key is in CD. Now i want to do fresh installation. how to get the product key. without win98 bootable cd |
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Jessica
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Hello, Any can help me asap? I tried to do as the instruction above, I found unattend.txt file and open it but I could not find any words or numbers on ProductKey line [UserData] FullName = "Your User Name" OrgName = "Your Organization Name" ComputerName = * ProductKey = "" |
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Batman
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I love you, in a platonic way thank you for the help. you guys can always use a 3rd party software to locate your original product key. as for windows 98 Microsoft does not support it anymore so you could probably find a keygen for it when it comes to using one for software that they don't support anymore they really don't care |
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Not happy
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WHY DO YOU ALL CONTINUE TO PRINT THAT THIS KEY IN UNATTEND.TXT WILL WORK???? IT DOES NOT WORK. PLEASE ALL OF YOU WHO REPORT THIS AS A FIX, STOP PERPETUATING THIS LIE. DO ANY OF YOU EVEN TRY IT BEFORE YOU PRINT IT?? |
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