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I have a laptop that came with Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed. But I recently had to format it. I need to enter the product key again but the sticker on the laptop is not readable now as it is quite old now. I havent written the product anywhere but before formatting, I had copied all the files of the hard disk to my PC. Is there a way out to retrieve the product key from those files? There was no recovery disc made.

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I would use the recovery partition on your system. At this point since you didn't write down the product key and you already formatted the system partition you are out of options. You might want to in the future only use the OEM's tools to do stuff like this to prevent problems like this. –  Ramhound Feb 27 '13 at 12:11

2 Answers 2

An option is to call Microsoft (I hear the collective groans already). If I remember correctly, you can install Windows without putting in a product key which will let you use it for 30 days. Sometime during the installation process you should have the option to skip the key, then after the installation it will revisit this issue and give you options like activate online or call Microsoft customer service (and thoughtfully provide you with the phone number as well). Since you have a registered copy of windows from when you bought the laptop (this is a valid copy, right?), it shouldn't be too painful to call them and have them validate your version of Windows. I've done it before and it wasn't that bad.

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go to Winkeyfilder web site and download latest version of application and then use it to find your windows product key. here is the download link.

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He already formatted the HDD. This product even if it actually displays the correct key ( I Often find these types of programs don't ) it wouldn't help the author. Besides Speccy a proven peice of non-malicious software will display the correct Windows product key without the need to purchase any software ( this also often is the case ). –  Ramhound Feb 27 '13 at 12:09
He already formatted the system partition based on the fact he made the statement: "havent written the product anywhere but before formatting". –  Ramhound Feb 27 '13 at 12:16
you are right, sorry about that, the only way is using recovery partition of it's remain on hard disk or check MS label on the back side of laptop. –  Kaveh Feb 27 '13 at 12:19

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