Anyone tried this or is there any other which you have tried with success?

 

http://www.intowindows.com/recover-windows-product-key-bios-efi/

I have not tried it but I certainly will in the future.

It looks to be an interesting little tool.

I had written to their tech support yesterday asking exactly which of their utilities will do this, if there is a trial and if it also works with win8. If/when I hear from them, will post here.

Sounds good to me, Mike.

I got this message this morning from their support but not totally understanding it:

 

"You can run our OEM Key Tool under Windows PE, so if you have it on a local disk and boot into the Windows setup DVD you could launch it from the command line (shift+f10 on the welcome screen)."

 

Any ideas on this please?

I don't know, Mike. I think that they may mean to download and run WinPE to find a product key.

(For an unbootable machine.)

 

TechNet

Yes I think that is what they are saying but how can I add their tool to window PE?

You run it from the WinPE by launching it from command.

(Shift + F10 at the Welcome screen)

So I create a bootable drive from windows pe, pop it in then hit Shift + F10 at the Welcome screen and that's all? Still not understanding how their tool comes into play here?

If that isn't working for you, Mike, try this one

I have used it before and it works like a charm.

Thanks a million, does it work with win10 too?

I don't know, mike. I've never used it on Win 10, just 8.1.

I can try it on my win10 but you mentioned 8.1 so I am guessing it would not work on win8?

It should work on Win 8 without a problem.

I note Belarc Advisor will also provide this (and a lot more) information.

 

Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is another great and tiny (about 2Mb so great for USB drives) key finder program that has been around for many years.

 

I built this system new so I bought W10 straight out for it. So of course, the Key is printed on the packaging. But for all my other systems that were upgraded from W7 and W8, after upgrading I created an image disk. Then I verify the keys with Magical Jelly Bean and used a marker to write the key on each disk.

 

I note a lot of people have used Speccy to get this information but note that is not the key but a similar looking "Serial Number". So while Speccy is a great system information program, don't let the serial number confuse you.

That's fine if the computer is bootable but we were talking about worse case scenario.

When Mike has an unbootable computer that he is working on and needs to reinstall the OS.

Exactly!

Right. That's exactly why I make an image disk and write the key code on the disk. It is also why I said it is great for USB drives, which I use when making house calls, or when a computer comes into the shop and (as is common) no backup image is available. While it does not read the key from the UEFI BIOS, it can scan an unbootable computer.

 

That said, I certainly see the advantage reading from the BIOS, but for some factory built UEFI systems, this still may not be possible if Secure Boot is enabled.

Unfortunately, we don't very often have the luxury of clients keeping a detailed record such as you describe.

As for Magical Jelly Bean, that won't work on the newer operating systems and according to this, you would have to strap the drive to a bootable windows machine in order to retrieve the key.

Mike is looking for a simpler method.

While it does not specify W10, Jelly Bean does indeed work with W10 (at least with Home and Pro).

Mike is looking for a simpler method.

Yeah, I understand. I just note one of the purposes of Secure Boot is to prevent a bad guy from booting from a connected drive and then gain unauthorized access to the computer. I don't see where that NeoSmart tool addresses that concern and my fear is it is limited in that case, as are the other tools. :(

 

You say you used it on 8.1, was that with UEFI Secure Boot enabled? Or a standard BIOS motherboard?

I have used it on both the BIOS as well as UEFI.

I haven't had any problems with it.

Thanks. I will be sure to add it my arsenal of utilities.

Sounds good to me....:thumbsup: