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Recently my windows 7 installation broke and refuse to boot (see here).

I wish to reinstall but only have 1 cd key.

Is there a way to retrieve my current cd key with the use of only command prompt or linux live disk?

Note: I am unable to boot into windows 7 but do have access to a minimal command prompt in recovery menu. (safe mode wont boot).

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3 Answers

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No, you cannot do it from WinRE command line

Connect the non bootable drive to another Windows PC using a usb to hard drive adapter, install Product Key on the Host PC, run Product key and use File > Select Source.

When the new window opens tick the third radio button, browse to the Windows folder on the non boot drive and hit ok.

enter image description here

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NB: if you already have an old copy of ProduKey, make sure that it is version 1.35 or later (or get the latest version) because before 1.35, it could only recover the key of the booted OS; 1.35 introduced the option of scanning other Windows installations. – Synetech Jul 8 '11 at 0:10
I am getting product key was not found – Razor Storm Aug 28 '11 at 1:46
try external registry hive, browse to the Windows\System32\config folder of the attached drive, select "software" – Moab Aug 28 '11 at 4:05
up vote 0 down vote

I've had really good success with the Magic Jelly Bean KeyFinder tool with MS-Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit editions), plus other versions of MS-Windows and most MS-Office products too:

  Magic Jelly Bean KeyFinder
  http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

enter image description here

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up vote 0 down vote

Good ol Hiren's Backup CD. You can also download each tool individually, but might as well grab the CD and the boat load of recovery tools.

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If you edit your answer to include a link to that tool, and the tool has a Windows 7 Product Key Recovery tool, I will vote "up" for this answer. – Randolf Richardson Jul 8 '11 at 0:54

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