Determining Windows Product Key on an external drive

[Rathji]

My desktop is dying a very fast death, and I want to salvage what I can from it. Hardware isn't an issue, but I want to recover the product keys, especially the Window XP one before I wipe the drive and put it to good use.

Normally I just run Belarc Advisor, and it spits out the product keys used to install all the software on the computer, but since I have plugged the drive into my external , Belarc doesn't provide the keys for that drive.

Any thoughts as to how I can find the key out? I have long since lost the CD and product key and this is my only (non MSDNAA) copy of XP so I would hate to lose it over something so stupid as this.

Edit: Just realized I didn't mention it but the drive is not bootable, either on the desktop or on my laptop.

[ricosuave]

This is easier than it looks...

http://www.dagondesign.com/articles/...omment-page-5/

You can thank me later... : )

[Rathji]

That worked after some messing about. Thanks a ton.

[Traditional_Ale]

5-star ultimate three-post thread! I've been wondering this myself for months!

[Rathji]

It is a bit of a pain to figure out, because sometimes you need to use an alternate file, but once you realize that, it works quite nicely.

[ricosuave]

really? the 2 times I used it, it worked super slick... no issues at all.

glad to hear you got it back...

[Azure]

There is actually a program out there that scans all the drives on your computer, including anything external, and gives you a readback on what the product keys are for all the software you have installed.

I can't remember what is called though.

[ricosuave]

^ Jellybean keyfinder?
^ Rock XP?

[ricosuave]

bump because I had to do something similar, to find a office key...

this program works wonders!
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

[Traditional_Ale]

If it's XP pro then I have some extra legit keys you can have/use if all else fails.