Recovering Windows 2000 Pro Key

[BlackGemini]

Thank you guys in advance for any help you may be able to provide. This is my first post so if I am in the wrong area,I apologize. I have a windows 2000 pro disk that I want to install. The original computer I had windows 2000 pro installed on suffered a hard drive failure and I have been unable to locate the key. With the original disk is there any way I can recover the key,or am I just SOL and stuck with a coaster.

[Miz]

If W2K came preinstalled on the computer, look on the case for a sticker with the product key.

If you can't get the harddrive with the W2K installation on it to boot up long enough to run Key Finder on it (it'll fit on a floppy if you need to download it on another machine), your next best bet is to call Microsoft, explain the situation and hope they'll believe you and provide you with another key.

[glc]

If the hard drive won't boot, but you can still read files off it slaved into another machine, try the procedure in the Tips and Tricks forum for recovering a XP product key - it might be the same.

[BlackGemini]

Thanks both of you Miz and GLC for replying. Unfortunately,the operating system was not pre-installed..so no sticker. But I do still have the drive and I haven't tried slaving it to another system yet,so I will try that and follow your instructions. Thanks Again