Hey I have my Windows CD and I am ready to install a new hard drive. The problem is my Windows booklet, which contains my Product ID Number, is and has been missing since I moved about 6 months ago. Is there anything I can do to install it or do I just have to buy another copy of Windows?
If you contact Microsoft with the serial number for your Windows CD, they may be able to provide you with the key. Otherwise, you will probably have to buy another copy.
If it's Windows 9x, then the easiest way is just copy your old hard drives to the new one and everything should run like before. There are good disk copying softwares out there.
I was reading in an anti-software piracy (which I very much favor) document that some people use Google to find Product ID numbers for various Microsoft products. The horror. I think the example they showed was an input of 'Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Product ID Number' and Google spat back about ten different PID's. The article went on to point out the wide range of people software piracy affects. Remember kids, pirating software is stealing!
It's really easy to find a new product key out on the net. Unless of course you want a legit registered copy, then you can go shell out some money.
