Extracting the cd key from the registry

The cd key is stored as clear text in Windows 9x and Windows NT4, but newer versions of Windows and Office encrypts the cd keys a little.

To help decrypting the cd keys, then one can use the following utilities:

• Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder (Can also change the cd-key for Win9x,WinXP and Win2k3)
• ProduKey (Can also retrieve the product key from another computer)
• Windows Product Key Viewer
• RockXP (Win2k/XP only, can change the XP key)
• Bob’s XP-Keyview (XP only)
• ViewKeyXP (XP only, doesn’t support SP2)