Lost or misplaced product key (certificate of authenticity) for Windows
Lost product keys
If you can start your guest operating system and that system is Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium, follow these steps to find your product key in the guest operating system:
1. Start Registry Editor (regedit.exe).
2. Locate the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MIcrosoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\ProductKey
3. Write down the value of the key.
4. Quit Registry Editor.
this is the only way to extract your original cd key.