Find Your XP Product Key on the CD

I was working on my son's computer trying to remove Win32.virut.ce, a nasty polymorphic virus. I finally moved the data to the second hard drive and began re-installing Windows, only to discover I didn't have the Product Id Key. Both the PC tower and the Windows CD envelope did not have a sticker with the product key. Out of curiosity, I Googled the topic and eventually found what I was looking for. The first post that comes up is misleading and incomplete. Digging through comments, there was a lot of confusion, disagreement, argument, and even name-calling!


I found similar results on other sites, but one anonymous poster came through brilliantly and explained it all. I thought his post worthy of a reprint, so here it is, below. Thanks Anonymous, I owe you one. To see it in its original context, please visit: http://ehacks.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/how-to-find-your-windows-xp-product-key-on-the-windows-xp-cd/. The comment is dated September 19, 2008. Sadly there is lots of bickering and confusion in the comments, even afterwards. That is what prompted my post from earlier today with the stolen photo..!



Two things: 1. Turns out this is just a myth. You cannot get the real key from the cd, as it is encrypted. You may be able to find a key that will be accepted, but you will still need to validate, and it won't work for that.
2. You don't need to enter a key during setup. You can leave it blank, as is explained clearly in the on-screen intructions (that I didn't bother to read.) Do I ever feel like an idiot!