Dig up hidden CD Keys. 

You can't find the CD-ROM jewel case that belongs to your recently corrupted
installation of Windows 95 (or Office, or the Plus pack, or Publisher, or some other
Microsoft product). But you keep the disc pinned to a corkboard, so you're OK,
right? But then you remember: these darn Microsoft products require that irritating CD Key 
to reinstall them--and the code disappeared with the jewel case. 

Well, actually, it isn't gone. Your previous installation of the software slapped the
CD-Key code into the Registry. Here's where to find it: 

1. Make sure you have a backup of the Registry. Do you get the picture?

2. Launch regedit by selecting Start/Run, typing regedit in the text box, and pressing Enter.

3. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, scroll down to Software.

4. Find the Microsoft listing, and look for the directory that contains the software 
   you need to reinstall.

5. Double-click the ProductID listing, and select the middle two number strings 
   (for example, in 53491-460-1656111-49145, select 460-1656111).

6. Press Ctrl-C to copy the CD Key to the Clipboard; then paste it somewhere where you 
   can reuse it. (Perhaps even copy all your keys to a text document, and print them for 
   safekeeping, eh?)


** NOTE **  Most of the microsoft keys work for the different software applications they have.

For Example: Win95 key works as a Microsoft Office 95 key or Plus Pack or NT.





This page was created Wed Aug 11 13:11:32 EDT 1999


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