Old License Keys

Hey,
I'm looking at doing a complete audit of the technology on my church's
computers and was wondering how to get to the license keys of the old OSs
installed on the computers. They've all been upgraded to Windows 98 SE but I
need to get the original license keys for the full versions underneath 98 so
that I can make sure we're properly licensed. Is there somewhere on the
computer where all of the 'old' license keys are stored? This will help a
lot, thanks in advance!

You will end up in Hell, if you are really trying to steal licenses from
a church. Do you mean ProductKey's...?...

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=232142
Troubleshooting "Invalid Product Key" Error Message During Setup

(A) You must pray for one now, as you have wiped it from...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion
ProductKey "12345-12345-12345-12345-12345"

(1) "START, Run, RegEdit"
(2) Click plus signs beginning at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", & ending with
"Windows".
(3) Click "CurrentVersion" in the left pane under "Windows".
(4) Look in right pane for ProductKey.

That is the one that was used to install your current Windows. Jot it
down, as it may work if different from the one on your Windows 98 Manual
or CD case.

(B) Microsoft: 1 800 642-7676, last I knew. Perhaps they will respond to
an original tale, if you can come up with it. Tell them a TIF monster
swallowed it!

(C) Not all numbers will work on all machines, especially if the OS is
different. Have you ever foolishly posted your number? Then, try...
http://www.google.com/ Groups
....put your name & "ProductKey" into the search.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Kemper" wrote in message
...
| Hey,
| I'm looking at doing a complete audit of the technology on my church's
| computers and was wondering how to get to the license keys of the old
OSs
| installed on the computers. They've all been upgraded to Windows 98
SE but I
| need to get the original license keys for the full versions underneath
98 so
| that I can make sure we're properly licensed. Is there somewhere on
the
| computer where all of the 'old' license keys are stored? This will
help a
| lot, thanks in advance!

Old licence keys are not saved by the system.

....Alan

--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/index.html

In microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion, Kemper
wrote:

Hey,
I'm looking at doing a complete audit of the technology on my church's
computers and was wondering how to get to the license keys of the old OSs
installed on the computers. They've all been upgraded to Windows 98 SE but I
need to get the original license keys for the full versions underneath 98 so
that I can make sure we're properly licensed. Is there somewhere on the
computer where all of the 'old' license keys are stored? This will help a
lot, thanks in advance!

=?Utf-8?B?S2VtcGVy?= wrote in
:

Hey,
I'm looking at doing a complete audit of the technology on my church's
computers and was wondering how to get to the license keys of the old
OSs installed on the computers. They've all been upgraded to Windows
98 SE but I need to get the original license keys for the full
versions underneath 98 so that I can make sure we're properly
licensed. Is there somewhere on the computer where all of the 'old'
license keys are stored? This will help a lot, thanks in advance!

If you upgraded with a legal copy of Windows 98 SE, then you are legal.
You can find that number in the registry. I'll reboot this thing into 98
and find it and post back.

--
--- A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother. ---

Menno Hershberger wrote in
:

=?Utf-8?B?S2VtcGVy?= wrote in
:

Hey,
I'm looking at doing a complete audit of the technology on my church's
computers and was wondering how to get to the license keys of the old
OSs installed on the computers. They've all been upgraded to Windows
98 SE but I need to get the original license keys for the full
versions underneath 98 so that I can make sure we're properly
licensed. Is there somewhere on the computer where all of the 'old'
license keys are stored? This will help a lot, thanks in advance!

If you upgraded with a legal copy of Windows 98 SE, then you are legal.
You can find that number in the registry. I'll reboot this thing into 98
and find it and post back.

hkey local machine/software/microsoft/windows then click on "current
version" so that it opens up in the right window pane....then if you scroll
down some on the right you will see the "product key"

--
--- A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother. ---

LOL, Your humor kills me, PCR (Ha, I kill myself -- Alf -- Dan)

"PCR" wrote:

You will end up in Hell, if you are really trying to steal licenses from
a church. Do you mean ProductKey's...?...

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=232142
Troubleshooting "Invalid Product Key" Error Message During Setup

(A) You must pray for one now, as you have wiped it from...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion
ProductKey "12345-12345-12345-12345-12345"

(1) "START, Run, RegEdit"
(2) Click plus signs beginning at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", & ending with
"Windows".
(3) Click "CurrentVersion" in the left pane under "Windows".
(4) Look in right pane for ProductKey.

That is the one that was used to install your current Windows. Jot it
down, as it may work if different from the one on your Windows 98 Manual
or CD case.

(B) Microsoft: 1 800 642-7676, last I knew. Perhaps they will respond to
an original tale, if you can come up with it. Tell them a TIF monster
swallowed it!

(C) Not all numbers will work on all machines, especially if the OS is
different. Have you ever foolishly posted your number? Then, try...
http://www.google.com/ Groups
....put your name & "ProductKey" into the search.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Kemper" wrote in message
...
| Hey,
| I'm looking at doing a complete audit of the technology on my church's
| computers and was wondering how to get to the license keys of the old
OSs
| installed on the computers. They've all been upgraded to Windows 98
SE but I
| need to get the original license keys for the full versions underneath
98 so
| that I can make sure we're properly licensed. Is there somewhere on
the
| computer where all of the 'old' license keys are stored? This will
help a
| lot, thanks in advance!

Ah, ha, ha.

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Dan" wrote in message
...
| LOL, Your humor kills me, PCR (Ha, I kill myself -- Alf -- Dan)
|
| "PCR" wrote:
|
| You will end up in Hell, if you are really trying to steal licenses
from
| a church. Do you mean ProductKey's...?...
....snip

Right, but what if the underlying Win95 copies weren't legal? Then I'm still
not legal, correct? I read in the WinXP upgrade license that you have to
have a legal underlying copy to qualify for upgrades, and I imagine that that
part of the license was also in the Win98SE upgrade license.

There is no way that I know of to determine from an installed Windows 98
system if the previous system was legal or not. Heck, you can "clean"
install Windows 98 Upgrade simply by showing Setup your qualifying
software installation media (floppies from WFWG 3.1 or Windows 95
floppies or Windows 95 CD.) But even "upgrading in place" does not
preserve the information you are seeking.

If you don't have the documentation, it can't be done. That's what COAs
are for. In fact, regarding your Win98 installations, the Product Key is
meaningless. The only unique identifier is the Product ID. And the only
way to know that each machine's installation is legal is to have COAs
for each one. Someone could have used a single Win98 Upgrade CD, gone
around and clean installed it on every one of your systems, using a
single Win95 CD as "qualifying media" and installed every one of your
systems, and the *only* way to know that they are in compliance with
licensing is to have one unique Win95 COA and one unique Win98 COA for
each system.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Kemper" wrote in message
...
Right, but what if the underlying Win95 copies weren't legal? Then
I'm still
not legal, correct? I read in the WinXP upgrade license that you have
to
have a legal underlying copy to qualify for upgrades, and I imagine
that that
part of the license was also in the Win98SE upgrade license.