[Macboatmaster]

Go back to cmd prompt
Type at the prompt

bcdedit | find "osdevice"


what does it report please

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Sorry to interrupt the excellent advice you're receiving, but I had to do exactly this on a friends computer so I thought I should share my experiences.

Your Windows 7 product key is stored in the software registry hive, located here:

C:\Windows\system32\config\software

Please note, software is the file name, not a directory. It has no file extension. Your drive may have a different letter.

What I did was to connect the hard drive with a SATA cable, like you have done, I then downloaded ProduKey (by NirSoft):

http://www.nirsoft.n...key_viewer.html

This is a little program that will tell you the product keys of the various software installed on your computer. What makes this different, is the ability to load keys from an external registry hive. Exactly what we want

So if you download and run ProduKey, then press File > Select Source, you will be presented with a new menu. On this, select Load the product keys from an external Software Registry hive and you will be prompted to open a file. Navigate to the software hive on the external drive and open the hive. E.g. D:\Windows\system32\config\software. You should now have your product keys

Hope this helped.

Tom

Edited by tom982, 06 March 2012 - 04:38 PM.

[tom982]

Sorry to interrupt the excellent advice you're receiving, but I had to do exactly this on a friends computer so I thought I should share my experiences.

Your Windows 7 product key is stored in the software registry hive, located here:

C:\Windows\system32\config\software

Please note, software is the file name, not a directory. It has no file extension. Your drive may have a different letter.

What I did was to connect the hard drive with a SATA cable, like you have done, I then downloaded ProduKey (by NirSoft):

http://www.nirsoft.n...key_viewer.html

This is a little program that will tell you the product keys of the various software installed on your computer. What makes this different, is the ability to load keys from an external registry hive. Exactly what we want

So if you download and run ProduKey, then press File > Select Source, you will be presented with a new menu. On this, select Load the product keys from an external Software Registry hive and you will be prompted to open a file. Navigate to the software hive on the external drive and open the hive. E.g. D:\Windows\system32\config\software. You should now have your product keys

Hope this helped.

Tom

Edited by tom982, 06 March 2012 - 04:38 PM.

[nesan]

Sorry to interrupt the excellent advice you're receiving, but I had to do exactly this on a friends computer so I thought I should share my experiences.

Your Windows 7 product key is stored in the software registry hive, located here:

C:\Windows\system32\config\software

Please note, software is the file name, not a directory. It has no file extension. Your drive may have a different letter.

What I did was to connect the hard drive with a SATA cable, like you have done, I then downloaded ProduKey (by NirSoft):

http://www.nirsoft.n...key_viewer.html

This is a little program that will tell you the product keys of the various software installed on your computer. What makes this different, is the ability to load keys from an external registry hive. Exactly what we want

So if you download and run ProduKey, then press File > Select Source, you will be presented with a new menu. On this, select Load the product keys from an external Software Registry hive and you will be prompted to open a file. Navigate to the software hive on the external drive and open the hive. E.g. D:\Windows\system32\config\software. You should now have your product keys

Hope this helped.

Tom

Tom,

Thank you for this wonderful information. ProduKey is exactly the utility that I was looking for. I got my Windows product key using this tool.
You know what's funny. I reinstalled windows 7, but it didn't even ask for product key. Anyways I got the product key now.
Thanks again for everyone who helped me on this. I appreciate all your input

[tom982]

Sorry to interrupt the excellent advice you're receiving, but I had to do exactly this on a friends computer so I thought I should share my experiences.

Your Windows 7 product key is stored in the software registry hive, located here:

C:\Windows\system32\config\software

Please note, software is the file name, not a directory. It has no file extension. Your drive may have a different letter.

What I did was to connect the hard drive with a SATA cable, like you have done, I then downloaded ProduKey (by NirSoft):

http://www.nirsoft.n...key_viewer.html

This is a little program that will tell you the product keys of the various software installed on your computer. What makes this different, is the ability to load keys from an external registry hive. Exactly what we want

So if you download and run ProduKey, then press File > Select Source, you will be presented with a new menu. On this, select Load the product keys from an external Software Registry hive and you will be prompted to open a file. Navigate to the software hive on the external drive and open the hive. E.g. D:\Windows\system32\config\software. You should now have your product keys

Hope this helped.

Tom

Tom,

Thank you for this wonderful information. ProduKey is exactly the utility that I was looking for. I got my Windows product key using this tool.
You know what's funny. I reinstalled windows 7, but it didn't even ask for product key. Anyways I got the product key now.
Thanks again for everyone who helped me on this. I appreciate all your input

Hello nesan,

You're most welcome, I'm glad I could help! Thanks for telling us how it went, I'm sure others experiencing this problem will appreciate you taking the time to do so.

Tom