how can i get my old win 7 key from my win 8 laptop

JamesUK

JamesUK

JamesUK

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hi, i upgraded windows 8 over the top of windows 7, the windows.old folder is still on my drive, the problem i have is the sticker on the bottom of my laptop with my product key on has now vanished and warn down were i cannot read it.

the win 7 i had on my laptop was a preinstalled version and i have the dell disk that has the installation on it, i am not sure being a custom dell disk if it asks for the product key or not, or if it auto adds it from the disk, either way id like to know if theres a way i can get my old key from my laptop and just write it down before i format and reinstall windows 7.

can anyone help please?

James
 
magic jelly bean will read the key, im not sure a preinstalled dell's windows 7 serial key will be any good to you since i htink they are all the same and activated via a certificate which you will not have when you reinstall
 
ah i had tried nirsoft and magic jelly bean and both only give me the key to windows 8, no mention of win 7 unfortunately
 
If the sticker with the key on is now unreadable then there's no way to recover it from the remains of the OS (if it were even possible) as it's likely that install came from some generic already activated image of the OS used by the manufacturer which uses a key that can't be used to activate a new install.
 
demonix said:
If the sticker with the key on is now unreadable then there's no way to recover it from the remains of the OS (if it were even possible) as it's likely that install came from some generic already activated image of the OS used by the manufacturer which uses a key that can't be used to activate a new install.
Click to expand...

Chances are it will have used Dell's SLP key (a generic key, widely available) which if you have can be used to activate again with slmgr.

Not sure on the legalities mind!
 
Do you still have the C:\Windows\System32\config folder inside the windows.old folder?

If so you should be able to use Enchanted Key Finder. Run the program and it will show your windows 8 key. Then go to Load Hive and point it at the config folder from your win7 installation. It should then pull up your win 7 key.

But may I ask why you are going back to Win7? If you want to get rid of the start screen you can do that completely with free software and then you still have the benefits of slightly improved start up times, task manager etc.
 
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