can i get my WinXP product key out of the registry?

[blurredvision]

I want to format and reinstall my WinXP, but I only have the cd from when I purchased. I've thrown away the case and everything, and didn't write down the product key. I DON"T want someone to give me a generic key, but I want to use the one I purchased. Can I get it out of the registry somewhere before I format? I know you could in WinME. Thanks for the help, it's greatly appreciated.

 

[freebsddude]

I would call Microsoft.

 

[Epyon9283]

Why would you throw out the case without writing the cd-key down first?

 

[blurredvision]

I didn't ask for sarcasm, and I use a cd case, so I just throw away all the cases to get them out of the way. If anyone can actually ANSWER my question, it would be appreciated.

 

[c0rv1d43]

Call Microsoft. If you provide proof of purchase to them, they'll give you a key. I did this for a neighbor who threw out his Win2K key. Microsoft support had me send the a scanned image of the bill of sale for the purchase of the retail OS and the Product ID from the System Properties dialog. (They wanted a scan of the barcode from the retail box, but he had thrown that away, too.) They were very reasonable and gave me a key to enter to enable the installation.

I don't like keeping the blooming jewel cases around, either. I keep a table (backed up to CD with the rest of my data) of all product keys for all my software that requires such keys.

- Collin