My windows search function brings 0 results

Did you actually browse to the exact file given? I wonder if it needed extracting?

tom982 said:

Hi thx1139,

I don't know how to do it in Jelly Bean, but I do with ProduKey:

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.

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 (by NirSoft):

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

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

I asked Tom to look at this. Maybe if you message him he'll help you more directly. I think you can mount the registry in regedit which should give more direct access to the key, perhaps even allow a keyfinder like Belarc or Jellybean to find it.

Until Tom reply's as asked by Greg, can you explain what you mean by:

Jemjem787 said:

I completely copied my old hard drive to another drive on my computer, so I think so.

Did you use Windows Explorer, Robocopy, a Backup program such as Macrium, Acronis, AOEMI, etc. ?

I always use a Backup Image to "copy" HD partitions...
Cloning can also be used...
I would never copy an "OS" HD/partition using "normal file copy programs" and expect the result to be a usable "OS COPY"...

Do you still have the "OLD HD", and can you boot from it ?
Do you still have an old backup image as you indicated in post #16 ?

DavidE said:

Until Tom reply's as asked by Greg, can you explain what you mean by:

Jemjem787 said:

I completely copied my old hard drive to another drive on my computer, so I think so.

Did you use Windows Explorer, Robocopy, a Backup program such as Macrium, Acronis, AOEMI, etc. ?

I always use a Backup Image to "copy" HD partitions...
Cloning can also be used...
I would never copy an "OS" HD/partition using "normal file copy programs" and expect the result to be a usable "OS COPY"...

Do you still have the "OLD HD", and can you boot from it ?
Do you still have an old backup image as you indicated in post #16 ?

I simply copy/pasted all the files on my hard drive onto another harddrive,

I have no system restore points from before i did the re install

I don't know what these files are, but they were created when i did the reinstall
http://i.gyazo.com/001b8d02b0254406149e76856910cc65.png

Okay i got it, the reason that the program wasn't finding anything is because i had multiple registry hives in my config folder, and i was going to the one just named "software'. But it turns out, that there is nothing in there, because its all in software.iobit. (iobit is the company that makes advanced system care). So thanks for the help, i think that i fixed everything.

We see nothing but problems here with Advanced System Care for all six years. This and all other tweaking suites are not needed or tolerated by a feather-light OS which needs no tweaking, only a perfect install on adequate hardware.

gregrocker said:

We see nothing but problems here with Advanced System Care for all six years. This and all other tweaking suites are not needed or tolerated by a feather-light OS which needs no tweaking, only a perfect install on adequate hardware.

I was planning on doing a clean install soon, but i'm afraid i can't do it anytime soon due to needing the computer badly. When the holidays come around i will probably do it. Thanks for the advice!

Don't forget when ready to stick with the steps, tools and methods in Clean Reinstall Windows 7 as you'll get and keep a perfect install to the exact extent you do.

Let us know how it goes.

One more quick question, i was reading and i think i remember something saying that you can only use a windows product key 3 times before you need to get a new one. I am pretty confident that this time is my third, am i misinformed or anything? I really don't want to pay money again to activate windows legally.

No it's no different than any other retail purchase. You own it for life to reinstall as often as you want.