From: Mike '/m' 

Well, I'm safe from Microsoft's wrath for a while.  I just spent some time
cleaning out my computer junk drawer (actually, junk cabinet).   I
found that I have at least 5 Windows 2000 licenses for the three PCs I have
running W2K.

This is turning into the Windows 3.1 situation, where I had (from various
places and software purchases) 12 copies of Windows 3.1 for the one PC that
I had (and that PC was running OS/2).

 /m


On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 11:35:37 -0400, "Rich Gauszka"
 wrote:

>Oops. ViewKeyXP no longers works as of SP2.   You'll have to use
>keyfinder.exe or something else. Keyfinder appears to still work. I had both
>copies in the same directory and forgot which one I used last
>
>I think you can get a good copy of keyfinder at this link ( even though it
>mentions ViewKeyXP it has a link to the keyfinder dl )
>
>
>http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/ViewKeyXP.htm
>
>
>
>"John Cuccia"  wrote in message
>news:c5ppe1h39qne4l8anbp52v8angliva2uan{at}4ax.com...
>> On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 19:21:54 -0400, "Rich Gauszka"
>>  wrote:
>>
>>
>>>There are a few programs out there for retrieving the product key (
>>>VeiwKeyXP.exe ). Sometimes the key returned isn't the PCs key (
the one on
>>>the supposedly readable sticker ) but  the OEM's bulk install
key. This is
>>>going to be a real F**king mess . Yet another well thought out plan from
>>>the
>>>clowns in Redmond
>>
>> OK, I'm confused.  I downloaded the above and ran it on my IBM-imaged
>> laptop and it returned a key different from that on the sticker on the
>> case, which jibes with your comment about bulk install keys.
>>
>> But, I then ran it on my desktop, which has a version of XP Pro that I
>> bought and installed myself.  It again returned a different key than
>> the one I used to install the OS (i.e, different from the sticker on
>> the packaging).
>>
>> Any idea why that happens?  Maybe MS is doing something to defeat key
>> retrieval programs?
>

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