My friends laptop got crash till he must buy new harddisk, before erase and completely destroy the harddisk he ask for his CD key.

He use original Windows XP Professional, same as me ( I use campus agreement hehehe)

After doing search in internet I got few software that able to retrieve Windows XP key  or related software:

1. Keyfinder, download here

The Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a freeware utility that retrieves your Product Key (cd key) used to install windows from your registry. It has the options to copy the key to clipboard, save it to a text file, or print it for safekeeping. It works on Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Windows Vista, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007.

2. RockXP, download here

Small Warning : RockXP is a tool that allow you to retrieve passwords. To do that, RockXP use a third party tool called Pwdump2.exe, an opensource software (Sources are included in RockXp). This tool retrieve HASH password of Windows. Unfortunatly, some Antivirus detect this tool like a Virus, but it’s not.

RockXP allows you to:
– To retrieve and change your XP Key
– To retrieve all Microsoft Products keys
– To save your XP activation file
– To retrieve your lost XP system passwords
– To retrieve your lost RAS (Remote Access Settings) passwords
– And to generate new passwords

Those two software will work fine as long operating system goes well, for corrupting system then this articles might be usefull.

 Windows XP and Vista Product Key Recovery

Quote from author site :

There are many programs available for extracting the product key from a Windows XP or Vista installation. The only problem is that they generally require the computer to be functional to run. These programs are useless if the operating system is corrupt and the computer will not boot into Windows. Fortunately, there are other options. This article explains how you can retrieve the product key with just the ntuser.dat file from the machine. You can also download a stand-alone version of my decrypter tool.

 

Recommended Books :

1. Microsoft Office 2007: Introductory Concepts and Techniques, Windows XP Edition (Shelly Cashman) (Shelly Cashman)
2. Office 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
3. Microsoft Office 2007 Illustrated Introductory, Windows XP Edition (Illustrated Series) (Illustrated Series)
4. Microsoft Office Project 2007 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))