I lost my Windows XP product key

Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us

RELATED CONTENT Archive: Windows Desktop Management Can I change network settings on the fly? How FAT and NFTS differ SMS installer won't work with 64-bit Vista's HKLM Registry key Use RoboCopy to copy files from crashed hard disk drives Give domain users permission to do disk defragmentation locally How can I restore a disabled Administrator account? Add domain group to local admins group on XP workstations at one time Why does Explorer crash so frequently? Rename multiple computers programmatically Restrict Internet usage for users

RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary

Unfortunately, if you no longer have the product key or the PC that your copy of Windows XP was installed on, you're completely out of luck.

It's possible to recover the Windows XP license key from a running copy of Windows if you've lost the install key -- a tool called ProduKey can do that for you. But if you have neither the PC nor the license key itself, then sadly nothing can be done.

This is why Microsoft has a large warning notice on the license key, and why they urge you to keep it in a safe place.

Note: If your old copy of Windows XP came with the PC as a preload, it can only be used with that PC anyway. It can't be transferred to another computer. (Copies of Windows bought with a PC are licensed for that PC only.)