In some circumstances, you may need to reinstall Windows XP. It may have been quite some time since you have installed Windows XP, and have accidentally misplaced the original case that your CD came in, which includes the CD key that is needed during the installation process. With this in mind, I would like to bring your attention to a piece of software called Magical Jelly Bean that will allow you to automatically recover the CD key that was entered during your last Windows XP installation.
Magical Jelly Bean is a free package of software that will easily reference your Windows XP CD key without having to dig through your registry, which can be compared to finding a needle in a haystack. Some of the advantages of Magical Jelly Bean are:
- Works on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows XP machines, as well as other distributions of Windows (e.g. Win2k and Vista).
- No installation necessary. This means that you can run Magical Jelly Bean on a floppy disk, CD, or USB/flash drive.
- Extract the Windows XP CD key to a Text or CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file.
If you are looking for more functionality with Magical Jelly Bean, the paid version of this software may be for you, which includes the following features:
- Recover serial numbers for Adobe CS2 – CS5 Products (such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc.)
- Recover serial numbers for Microsoft Office 2010.
- Recover CD key for Windows 7 (not available in the free version).
- Scan remote computers from one single computer.
- Extract serial numbers, CD keys to .html, MS Word (.doc), MS Excel (.xls), .xml, and Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files.
The Magical Jelly Bean software is a handy tool to download and utilize, especially if you perform a lot of maintenance on various Windows-based machines. Always remember that if you are going to write the CD key down on paper to keep it in a safe place and out of general public view. This helps prevent piracy and illegal installations of Windows XP.
Please be sure to leave any feedback regarding the Magical Jelly Bean software in our comments section below.