Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder v2.0.8 README March 29th, 2009 http://sourceforge.net/projects/keyfinder/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Product Overview ---------------- The Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a freeware utility that retrieves your Product Key used to install windows from your registry or from an unbootable Windows installation. It works on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7. It has options to save the keys to a text file, or print them out. Features -------- Open Source - This means that it can be trusted. The Keyfinder does not contain trojans or "phone home" messages. No spam, spyware, viruses, or trojans. Office 2007 & Windows 7 support! An optional config file - this functionality lets you pull a key stored in the registry for any software. A sample config file is included in the zip and can be seen here: keyfinder.cfg Command line options - /save /savecsv /close /hive /file Load Hive option - allows you to load the registry hive of another Windows installation. To use, put the hard drive in a working machine (must also be Windows 2000,XP, Vista or 7) or use Windows PE (not tested, should work) and click Load Hive. Then point it to the dead Windows install. If you're using Windows Vista or Windows 7, Administrator rights are required for this feature. You may have to right click on the Keyfinder and run as Administrator. Improved Save & Print! - save & print options will now include all keys. Save is also available in text or CSV. How To Extract -------------- Download the ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch the program by double-clicking on keyfinder.exe. Known Issues ------------ - Build 2.08: If the /hive command line is used, and the hive file listed is damaged or missing, the program will loop endlessly trying to open the hive. - If you bought your new PC preinstalled with Windows, you may find the CD Key that appears in keyfinder is different from the CD Key on your Windows Certificate of Authenticity. This issue can happen with the branded PC's mostly (Dell, HP, IBM, Acer etc.). COA samples are at http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/windows/ - If you have no physical XP media or only restore media, the retrieval software will have limited use. - Do not pay for a key retrievable utility for any reason, reinstalled, upgraded or clean installed XP since purchasing or building the computer. No paid key retrieval tool will retrieve a valid key from a OEM installation that used a generic key. - In older versions of Office (Office 2000 and below), the 'Product Key' value is not available. Command Line Parameters ----------------------- Syntax: ------- keyfinder.exe [/close] [/file ] [/hive ] or keyfinder.exe [/close] [/hive ] [/savecsv ] Parameters: ----------- /close No GUI displayed. /hive Load product key information from another operating system on the same computer. The would be the location of the Windows folder. (e.g H:\windows) This feature is only supported on Windows 2000 and XP. /file With /save or /savecsv, use filename.ext as the filename for the saved file. You can also combine the above command-line options with the following save options in order to save product key information to a file: /delim Many countries use a “,” and not a “.” as decimal separator. This means they can't use “,” as field separator, and they use another character instead. /savecsv Save the list of product keys into a comma-delimited text file. Examples -------- Interactive Usage ----------------- To display the product keys: keyfinder To display keys and save them to text file .\LICENSES.TXT: keyfinder /save /file LICENSES.TXT To retrieve keys from "dead" Windows XP install on hard disk letter F: keyfinder /hive F:\WINDOWS Automated/Scripted Usage ------------------------ To save keys from machine WIN-XP in text file R:\LICENSES\WIN-XP.TXT without showing the GUI: keyfinder /close /save R:\LICENSES\ To save keys in CSV file "Y:\ANOTHER PATH\SYSTEM LICENSES.CSV" without showing the GUI: keyfinder /close /savecsv "Y:\ANOTHER PATH\" /file "SYSTEM LICENSES.CSV" System Requirements ------------------- keyfinder works on all 32-bit versions of Windows. However, some features, like viewing the product keys of another operating system instance, are only supported on Windows 2000 and XP. How to update the CFG file -------------------------- keyfinder.cfg is an ANSI text file which can be modified in Notepad. Each line is formatted as follows. ApplicationDisplayName|Description=FullyQualifiedRegistryLocation=KeyName|Description2=FullyQualifiedRegistryLocation2=KeyName2 You can have as many description fields as necessary. Just separate each with the pipe symbol. Comment lines can be added by putting a semicolon ';' symbol at the begining of a line. The first line in the file holds the version of keyfinder it's compatable with and the date it was last updated. Reporting Bugs -------------- If you experience something you believe is a bug, please fill out the online form at: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=222327 Do not assume someone else will report it. Please describe the problem in as much detail as possible. Iinclude the following information: - Version of keyfinder (as shown in the About dialog) - Operating system and version