Windows 7: Recover Product Key from Old Hard Disk?

JaseT · 26 Sep 2010

Hi,

I upgraded my hard disk. Now my Windows 7 Professional product key is "stuck" on my old hard disk (which is now mounted as an external USB drive). I tried the sniffer product key programs to recover my product key (I have legitimately paid for and own the Windows 7 Professional key) but I am getting "do not have permission" error when sniffing old hard disk for product key.
Any ideas on how I might recover the Professional product key I own? (I have tried about 6 sniffer programs but all deny access to external Windows 7 directories)

Thanks for any help.

richc46 · 26 Sep 2010

Have you tried Magic Jelly Bean; it has been very succeful in the past.

JaseT · 26 Sep 2010

Yes, I've tried them all. I get the error message "Can't load registry hive from F:\... A required priviledge is not held by the client"

richc46 · 26 Sep 2010

Sharing and Permissions
Read this it may help.
and/Or use the hidden administrator
Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable[2]=User Accounts
Try the hidden adminstrator in safe mode, also.

Dwarf · 26 Sep 2010

The easiest thing to do would be to temporarily swap the drives back, run Magic Jelly Bean (or Belarc Advisor) and make a note of the key.

kodi · 26 Sep 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by Dwarf

The easiest thing to do would be to temporarily swap the drives back, run Magic Jelly Bean (or Belarc Advisor) and make a note of the key.

+1.

JaseT · 26 Sep 2010

Thanks for the advice everyone. A great help. That fixed it.

Dwarf · 26 Sep 2010

You're welcome.

Gmail · 22 Oct 2010

But for me the software didn't help , for windows enterprise/ultimate , What can I do ?

pacinitaly · 27 Oct 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by Dwarf

The easiest thing to do would be to temporarily swap the drives back, run Magic Jelly Bean (or Belarc Advisor) and make a note of the key.

simple,correct,quick

+1 too

Windows 7: Recover Product Key from Old Hard Disk?

Recover Product Key from Old Hard Disk? problems?