Lost Win 98 License Key

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I lost my license key for Windows 98, and of course, now I need to re-install Windows 98 on my (old) PC. Is there some way to obtain a new/replacement license key? Thanks!

wallygator

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If you still have Windows 98 running you can use Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder to retrieve your key.

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Brilliant!!! I wish I had that tool beforehand so that I could have retrieved the key and put it onto the CD case. Does MS have a way to get a license key in the event of a lost license key?

wallygator

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(Edited by tony55 on 19-Nov-04 00:07. )

You can contact MS to explain what has happened and they may give you another product key. Unfortunately contacting MS for technical support is not free for Windows 98, I believe the current rate is $35

If you have an OEM version of Windows 98 then you would need to contact the supplier instead.

Added:
Have you checked your computer case? If you have an OEM version the product key is usually on a sticker attached to the case.
For retail versions it is either attached to the CD case or in the manual.

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(Edited by tony55 on 19-Nov-04 00:07. )

You can contact MS to explain what has happened and they may give you another product key. Unfortunately contacting MS for technical support is not free for Windows 98, I believe the current rate is $35

If you have an OEM version of Windows 98 then you would need to contact the supplier instead.

Added:
Have you checked your computer case? If you have an OEM version the product key is usually on a sticker attached to the case.
For retail versions it is either attached to the CD case or in the manual.

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And, assuming Tony’s correct about that support price, you may do better by Googling around. I’ve never done this, so beware and be careful – but I stumbled across this site which “looks” like you can buy a license-only for a decent price, but I don’t know that for sure. Please check around.

“… A product listed as

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And, assuming Tony’s correct about that support price, you may do better by Googling around. I’ve never done this, so beware and be careful – but I stumbled across this site which “looks” like you can buy a license-only for a decent price, but I don’t know that for sure. Please check around.

“… A product listed as

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Brilliant!!! I wish I had that tool beforehand so that I could have retrieved the key and put it onto the CD case. Does MS have a way to get a license key in the event of a lost license key?

wallygator

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If you still have Windows 98 running you can use Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder to retrieve your key.

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Another handy little utility to have for just such emergencies is Winaudit. Gives a ton of information, including software license keys. , no install, and at 130KB, can be run straight off a floppy. Carry one around in your back pocket!

Alan

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That is a GREAT tool, just added it to my system and my “Digital Toolbox”

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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That is a GREAT tool, just added it to my system and my “Digital Toolbox”

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Great idea. I added it also. Where do you keep coming up with all these toys!

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I just frequent and contribute to a few sites whose purpose is to scrounge for freeware… in between perusing the local dumpmasters . Also some developer sites, where many of the projects are written specifically as freeware.

But yes, there’s an awful lot of good ware out there. I can never understand people who first ask for a commercial recommendation, then “even shareware” but never get “down” to ware. In my experience, for smaller programs at least, the same range in standards (robustness, quality, functionality, support, …) exist for all these software types. But with freeware it’s, well… free!

Alan

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I just frequent and contribute to a few sites whose purpose is to scrounge for freeware… in between perusing the local dumpmasters . Also some developer sites, where many of the projects are written specifically as freeware.

But yes, there’s an awful lot of good ware out there. I can never understand people who first ask for a commercial recommendation, then “even shareware” but never get “down” to ware. In my experience, for smaller programs at least, the same range in standards (robustness, quality, functionality, support, …) exist for all these software types. But with freeware it’s, well… free!

Alan

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Great idea. I added it also. Where do you keep coming up with all these toys!

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One thing else you may have to carry around in your back pocket, if you are going to use a floppy, is an external floppy drive since many of the computers do not have one installed! Tools on a CD might work better! Thanks for the link to this one!!

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Since we’re all in a good humoured frame of mind Skitterbug , I’d venture to assume that you carry a handbag everywhere. You would therefore have ample room for a FDD, alongside the CD/DVD player and the spare monitor you have tucked in there.

Alan

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You’ve got me figured out – Alan but it is a soft sided briefcase instead of a handbag; the monitor is tucked on the backseat of my car for instant access!!

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I always remember the handbag stereotype, from a time that a friend’s car (part of a convoy of campers) developed radiator troubles. He needed a 5/8″ ring spanner (wrench?) and couldn’t find one in his tools. Nobody else had one either – all was lost. But wait! His girlfriend fumbled around in her handbag for a bit and produced the exact spanner required!
Of course, it happened to be the one missing from his toolbox that she’d picked up some time back, after he’d left it lying around. But why spoil a good girl’s handbag story!

Alan

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I always remember the handbag stereotype, from a time that a friend’s car (part of a convoy of campers) developed radiator troubles. He needed a 5/8″ ring spanner (wrench?) and couldn’t find one in his tools. Nobody else had one either – all was lost. But wait! His girlfriend fumbled around in her handbag for a bit and produced the exact spanner required!
Of course, it happened to be the one missing from his toolbox that she’d picked up some time back, after he’d left it lying around. But why spoil a good girl’s handbag story!

Alan

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You’ve got me figured out – Alan but it is a soft sided briefcase instead of a handbag; the monitor is tucked on the backseat of my car for instant access!!

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Since we’re all in a good humoured frame of mind Skitterbug , I’d venture to assume that you carry a handbag everywhere. You would therefore have ample room for a FDD, alongside the CD/DVD player and the spare monitor you have tucked in there.

Alan

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One thing else you may have to carry around in your back pocket, if you are going to use a floppy, is an external floppy drive since many of the computers do not have one installed! Tools on a CD might work better! Thanks for the link to this one!!

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Nice of you to come with yet another tool, Alan, but if the OP doesn’t have a working Windows, I wouldn’t think it would do him much good. Belarc Advisor will reveal software keys too, but your OS has to be running in order to do it. If you’ve just got a Windows CD but nothing installed, I would think you’re screwed, wouldn’t you?

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The following was a copy and paste from that program, this alone is worth it.
———————————————————————-

System Startup Programs

———————————————————————-

NAME STARTUP COMMAND
—- —————

NvCplDaemon RUNDLL32.EXE C:WINDOWSSystem32NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
nwiz nwiz.exe /installquiet
ATIModeChange Ati2mdxx.exe
ATIPTA C:Program FilesATI TechnologiesATI Control Panelatiptaxx.exe
ccApp “C:Program FilesCommon FilesSymantec SharedccApp.exe”
ezShieldProtector for Px C:WINDOWSSystem32ezSP_Px.exe
HI-SPEED USB DEVICE Coinstaller PL15Co2K.exe
HotKeysCmds C:WINDOWSSystem32hkcmd.exe
IgfxTray C:WINDOWSSystem32igfxtray.exe
QuickTime Task “C:Program FilesQuickTimeqttask.exe” -atboottime
SSBkgdUpdate “C:Program FilesCommon FilesScansoft SharedSSBkgdUpdateSSBkgdupdate.exe” -Embedding -boot
SunJavaUpdateSched C:Program FilesJavaj2re1.4.2_05binjusched.exe
Symantec NetDriver Monitor C:PROGRA~1SYMNET~1SNDMon.exe
VAIO Recovery C:WindowsSonysysVAIO RecoveryPartSeal.exe
Zone Labs Client “C:Program FilesZone LabsZoneAlarmzlclient.exe”
ZTgServerSwitch “c:program filessupport.comclientbintgcmd.exe” /server
AGRSMMSG AGRSMMSG.exe
Acronis

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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To Dave (and Alan, I guess). I wasn’t “knocking” the usefulness of Alan’s tip, Dave. I’m sure it’s an excellent program. It only seemed from the OP’s two posts that he was dead in the water and if that be the case…

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Hi Al

Although, without a functioning Windows, things like WinAudit and Belarc are useless, there is a way to get the key back (if it’s still there of course) even if Windows won’t start. (I hate it when I know it’s in there but I can’t get to it.)

I devised the following method to get it back, even when Windows (98) won’t boot:

– Obtain the classic DOS program LIST.COM by Vernon D. Buerg 1983-93
– Add it to a Win98 boot disk, or some other boot disk
– Boot problem computer with boot disk
– From the DOS prompt, run LIST and open C:WINDOWSSYSTEM.DAT
– Type f (case-insensitive Find) then “productid” (sans ” marks)
– Keep hitting F3 until the Product ID corresponding to your Windows key appears
– Write it down
– Grab any others along the way

I tried this and it does work. I was not screwed!

cheers

Alan

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>>Obtain the classic DOS program LIST.COM by Vernon D. Buerg 1983-93

Is that the same as ListPlus.zip, which I found at http://www.buerg.com/download.htm%5B/url%5D? It’s 120KB in a zip file, so I don’t know how you’d put it on a boot disk. It’s hard to keep up with you, Alan.

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I’m not familiar with that particular package (LIST Version 9.6s) but I see the archive contains quite a few files, including documentation:

2READ.ME,3.32 KB
ARCE.COM,6.49 KB
ARCE.DOC,9.68 KB
COLOR.PAT,236 Byte
DRLIST.COM,5.99 KB
DRLIST.DOC,23.19 KB
FILE_ID.DIZ,231 Byte
FV.COM,8.41 KB
FV.DOC,6.15 KB
INSTALL.BAT,291 Byte
LICENSE,10.32 KB
LIST.COM,27.13 KB
LIST.DOC,121.48 KB
LIST.HST,7.92 KB
LIST.ICO,766 Byte
LIST.PIF,995 Byte
LISTR.COM,12.74 KB
LISTS.COM,11.44 KB
LISTW95.TXT,778 Byte
ORDER.FRM,2.10 KB
PROGRAMS,8.55 KB
WHATSNEW,16.97 KB
Total number of files = 22
Sum of file sizes = 291943 Byte

You’d only need your choice of ONE of these on the floppy:

LIST.COM LIST command, Plus version, all commands and features – 27.1KB
LISTR.COM LIST regular version, no file selection menu – 12.7KB
LISTS.COM Small version of LIST, no help screen – 11.4KB (documentation says “requires only 30k” ???)

If one of these won’t fit on a Windows Startup floppy, then I’m sure it would fit on a regular (DOS) boot disk.

Alan

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Sorry for the delay in responding, but Thanksgiving has been hectic. Thanks for the info. I’ll put the LIST.COM on my floppy.

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Sorry for the delay in responding, but Thanksgiving has been hectic. Thanks for the info. I’ll put the LIST.COM on my floppy.

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I’m not familiar with that particular package (LIST Version 9.6s) but I see the archive contains quite a few files, including documentation:

2READ.ME,3.32 KB
ARCE.COM,6.49 KB
ARCE.DOC,9.68 KB
COLOR.PAT,236 Byte
DRLIST.COM,5.99 KB
DRLIST.DOC,23.19 KB
FILE_ID.DIZ,231 Byte
FV.COM,8.41 KB
FV.DOC,6.15 KB
INSTALL.BAT,291 Byte
LICENSE,10.32 KB
LIST.COM,27.13 KB
LIST.DOC,121.48 KB
LIST.HST,7.92 KB
LIST.ICO,766 Byte
LIST.PIF,995 Byte
LISTR.COM,12.74 KB
LISTS.COM,11.44 KB
LISTW95.TXT,778 Byte
ORDER.FRM,2.10 KB
PROGRAMS,8.55 KB
WHATSNEW,16.97 KB
Total number of files = 22
Sum of file sizes = 291943 Byte

You’d only need your choice of ONE of these on the floppy:

LIST.COM LIST command, Plus version, all commands and features – 27.1KB
LISTR.COM LIST regular version, no file selection menu – 12.7KB
LISTS.COM Small version of LIST, no help screen – 11.4KB (documentation says “requires only 30k” ???)

If one of these won’t fit on a Windows Startup floppy, then I’m sure it would fit on a regular (DOS) boot disk.

Alan

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>>Obtain the classic DOS program LIST.COM by Vernon D. Buerg 1983-93

Is that the same as ListPlus.zip, which I found at http://www.buerg.com/download.htm%5B/url%5D? It’s 120KB in a zip file, so I don’t know how you’d put it on a boot disk. It’s hard to keep up with you, Alan.

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Alan

I still use LIST on an almost-daily basis. Excellent for looking into files, both text mode and hexadecimal! Pity about the limitation of 1000-odd files in the directory display function…

John

PS My version is a personal, network, version © 1988-2000!

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I figured you might be a diehard user like me, John. It’s a true “oldie but a goodie”.
I didn’t know about the filelist limitation – probably never come up against it before. I can’t see anything in the documentation of v.9 either, and probably don’t even have a directory that big to test it on.

Alan

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Alan

Been trimming down our XP directories, have we?! Here’s one I made earlier…

Directory of C:windowssystem32
2109 File(s) 389,888,364 bytes

John

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Whew! You’re quite right. I have severely underestimated things. Some folders are rather bigger than I’d thought… and I only use 98SE!

BTW, I found a utility called Diskman v.4 that (I think) might give out some filename/ sector information. But I can’t for the life of me get it to do anything. It’s a real low level tool, with correspondingly low level documentation and commandline structure.

Alan

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Whew! You’re quite right. I have severely underestimated things. Some folders are rather bigger than I’d thought… and I only use 98SE!

BTW, I found a utility called Diskman v.4 that (I think) might give out some filename/ sector information. But I can’t for the life of me get it to do anything. It’s a real low level tool, with correspondingly low level documentation and commandline structure.

Alan

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Alan

Been trimming down our XP directories, have we?! Here’s one I made earlier…

Directory of C:windowssystem32
2109 File(s) 389,888,364 bytes

John

Reply | Quote

Alan

I still use LIST on an almost-daily basis. Excellent for looking into files, both text mode and hexadecimal! Pity about the limitation of 1000-odd files in the directory display function…

John

PS My version is a personal, network, version © 1988-2000!

Reply | Quote

Hi Al

Although, without a functioning Windows, things like WinAudit and Belarc are useless, there is a way to get the key back (if it’s still there of course) even if Windows won’t start. (I hate it when I know it’s in there but I can’t get to it.)

I devised the following method to get it back, even when Windows (98) won’t boot:

– Obtain the classic DOS program LIST.COM by Vernon D. Buerg 1983-93
– Add it to a Win98 boot disk, or some other boot disk
– Boot problem computer with boot disk
– From the DOS prompt, run LIST and open C:WINDOWSSYSTEM.DAT
– Type f (case-insensitive Find) then “productid” (sans ” marks)
– Keep hitting F3 until the Product ID corresponding to your Windows key appears
– Write it down
– Grab any others along the way

I tried this and it does work. I was not screwed!

cheers

Alan

Reply | Quote

To Dave (and Alan, I guess). I wasn’t “knocking” the usefulness of Alan’s tip, Dave. I’m sure it’s an excellent program. It only seemed from the OP’s two posts that he was dead in the water and if that be the case…

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The following was a copy and paste from that program, this alone is worth it.
———————————————————————-

System Startup Programs

———————————————————————-

NAME STARTUP COMMAND
—- —————

NvCplDaemon RUNDLL32.EXE C:WINDOWSSystem32NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
nwiz nwiz.exe /installquiet
ATIModeChange Ati2mdxx.exe
ATIPTA C:Program FilesATI TechnologiesATI Control Panelatiptaxx.exe
ccApp “C:Program FilesCommon FilesSymantec SharedccApp.exe”
ezShieldProtector for Px C:WINDOWSSystem32ezSP_Px.exe
HI-SPEED USB DEVICE Coinstaller PL15Co2K.exe
HotKeysCmds C:WINDOWSSystem32hkcmd.exe
IgfxTray C:WINDOWSSystem32igfxtray.exe
QuickTime Task “C:Program FilesQuickTimeqttask.exe” -atboottime
SSBkgdUpdate “C:Program FilesCommon FilesScansoft SharedSSBkgdUpdateSSBkgdupdate.exe” -Embedding -boot
SunJavaUpdateSched C:Program FilesJavaj2re1.4.2_05binjusched.exe
Symantec NetDriver Monitor C:PROGRA~1SYMNET~1SNDMon.exe
VAIO Recovery C:WindowsSonysysVAIO RecoveryPartSeal.exe
Zone Labs Client “C:Program FilesZone LabsZoneAlarmzlclient.exe”
ZTgServerSwitch “c:program filessupport.comclientbintgcmd.exe” /server
AGRSMMSG AGRSMMSG.exe
Acronis

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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That’s quite true Al, you have to have a functioning copy of Windows running; but I did zero in on the word “reinstall” in the OP, so I assumed Windows could at least boot.

The disadvantage of Belarc is that it has to be installed. I’ve used Winaudit from a floppy or network share, on LANs, to identify what kind of mess each of the motley collection of workstations is in. I also think that Winaudit has a more readable layout than Belarc, but is probably not as comprehensive.

Alan

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That’s quite true Al, you have to have a functioning copy of Windows running; but I did zero in on the word “reinstall” in the OP, so I assumed Windows could at least boot.

The disadvantage of Belarc is that it has to be installed. I’ve used Winaudit from a floppy or network share, on LANs, to identify what kind of mess each of the motley collection of workstations is in. I also think that Winaudit has a more readable layout than Belarc, but is probably not as comprehensive.

Alan

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Nice of you to come with yet another tool, Alan, but if the OP doesn’t have a working Windows, I wouldn’t think it would do him much good. Belarc Advisor will reveal software keys too, but your OS has to be running in order to do it. If you’ve just got a Windows CD but nothing installed, I would think you’re screwed, wouldn’t you?

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Another handy little utility to have for just such emergencies is Winaudit. Gives a ton of information, including software license keys. , no install, and at 130KB, can be run straight off a floppy. Carry one around in your back pocket!

Alan

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