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I got drafted into repairing a friend's laptop. He got a virus and after removing it the laptop would no longer boot into Windows. After banging my head against the wall for several days I've finally admitted that at this point a reinstall is the only option. I've already backed up most of his important stuff to an external using a Linux live cd.

Here's the issue: The laptop came with a recovery partition, which is unfortunately not working. So I burned a copy of the official Windows 7 install disk and want to use that. But the laptop is a few years old and the sticker on the bottom with the product key is illegible. To my knowledge the key isn't written down anywhere else, and I don't want to start the reinstall without being able to activate it.

So, is there any way to find the Windows product key without being able to read the sticker or boot up windows? I can access the filesystem using the live cd, but thats about it.

Thanks

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Unfortunately you cannot recover a Windows 7 product key from the system.

It sounds like it's an OEM license, so you may be able to recover it by calling up the maker of the laptop. If it's a Dell laptop, it'll have a service tag, which will allow you to recover the exact key used to install Windows in the first place.

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    I am seeing several places that suggest otherwise, what makes you so confident that those solutions do not work? Have you tried them?
    – nerdwaller
    Apr 14, 2014 at 16:57
  • The "Key Finder" programs that you can find rarely work for OEM installations of Windows; try one out, see if you get anything. No harm in trying! Apr 15, 2014 at 8:29

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