Linux Format forums

Re: Recovering (from) Windows

GeordieJedi — Fri May 07, 2010 8:04 pm

Author: GeordieJedi

Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 8:04 pm

Thanks for the advice so far lads.

@ Dutch Master

I do have my own legit CD for XP Pro, I could use that If I'd found the key on
his HD. Never thought of the student edition though, cheers.
Although I suspect I wouldn't be able to get a key for XP now.

@ LeeNukes

Cheers for the advice, Lee. I'll give it a look.

Re: Recovering (from) Windows

LeeNukes — Thu May 06, 2010 7:49 pm

Author: LeeNukes

Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 7:49 pm

Dutch_Master wrote:

Nope. Find yourseld a decent copy of the CD, complete with key, and use that to install XP. There is no 'location' where the key is stored in XP, remember: XP is not Linux! (hint: perhaps your flatemate could buy himself a student licence from Mr Gates, they seem awfully interested in getting students addicted to their stuff, so it's cheap)

But why bother anyway: just install Linux, use a Redmond theme on the desktop and he'll never know

You could try MagicalJellyBean Keyfinder. I usually use this from Windows on mounted drives. Just choose the Load Hive option and point it at the Windows directory where it will load the registry and decode the Office and Windows license keys.

I doubt it will work from Wine, I'd be interested to know though. I'd expect in order to get it to work you'd need to mount the Windows drive in Wine and map it to a letter.

Re: Recovering (from) Windows

Dutch_Master — Thu May 06, 2010 5:57 pm

Author: Dutch_Master

Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 5:57 pm

Nope. Find yourseld a decent copy of the CD, complete with key, and use that to install XP. There is no 'location' where the key is stored in XP, remember: XP is not Linux! (hint: perhaps your flatemate could buy himself a student licence from Mr Gates, they seem awfully interested in getting students addicted to their stuff, so it's cheap)

But why bother anyway: just install Linux, use a Redmond theme on the desktop and he'll never know

Recovering (from) Windows

GeordieJedi — Thu May 06, 2010 5:17 pm

Author: GeordieJedi

Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 5:17 pm

Hi all, how about another question?

Ok, I got sick and tired of my flatmate's complaining that his net connection
was too slow. (He was using a rather ancient P3 and 512MB of RAM that
I'd given him awhile ago).

So I thought it'd be an awesome idea to build/cannibalise an newer computer
from an old P4 I had going spare. So after getting all of the hardware working
I realised that I was probably gonna have to re-install Windows XP on it.
(I've essentially just chucked the old HD alongside another one in a newer
case).

However I don't have the key. It wasn't written down, nor put on a sticker
(XP was originally installed by a friend who runs a PC business and he
cant remember recording the key down anywhere).

So my question is, can I retreive the key using a live CD? Re-install XP
and then add Linux as a dual boot?

Thanks in advance for anly help.