HP said I could get my original product key from the motherboard

[patteater]

I called up HP and they said there is a way to recover my product key from the mother board and there is a video somewhere on the HP  website?  If someone could tell me how to recover this, as the original key on the bottom of the laptop is mostly unreadable, and I need it to activate windows?

Thank you

[TheOldMan]

If the Windows 7 is still operating, get Magical Jelly Bean or use Belarc Advisor

[banhien]

Hi,

For Windows 7, I don't think so but please try:

    https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

Regards.

[patteater]

No - the hard drive crashed and when I used those products it came up with an unusable Product Key.  According to Microsoft and HP the original Product Key is in the Bios in Binary and should be recoverable, but so far I have found no program to retrieve it.

[TheOldMan]

Actually, since that product came with Windows 7 preinstalled, it would be an OEM Windows 7.  That style of Windows might not have a product key imbedded in the BIOS but just a SLIC 2.1.  You are still good if you made the Recovery Disk set or order them from HP.  See this page

http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Pavilion-g7-Notebook-PC-series/5082232/model/5145...

Scroll down to "Order Recovery Media"

If all that fails, then PM me

[WAWood]

@patteater

From what I recall, Belarc and MagicalJellyBean only read from the registry.

This tool is SUPPOSED to retrieve OEM product keys from UEFI and SLIC tables -- but I have not confirmed it:  https://github.com/Superfly-Inc/ShowKeyPlus/releases/download/ShowKeyPlus6125/ShowKeyPlus.zip

It's worth a try ...

Good Luck

[patteater]

That worked - it showed the product key I last entered into the computer, unfortunately it says it is not a usable product key for validating my windows.  The code attached to the Bios is apparently in binary in three lines on the motherboard. When you swap out hardware however two lines disappear and need to be re-written.  I found another program that supposedly will put the two lines of binary back in and give you a new valid product key, however I lost the article and am currently trying to relocate it.