Two years ago I've bought asus laptop with Windows Vista preinstalled. I also received recovery dvd with it. Now, I want to reinstall Windows and fully format the hard drive. However, the sticker with Windows product key under the laptop is unreadable. I tried recovering the key with ProduKey and similar software but they show another product key - it is different than the one from the sticker (I checked on another asus laptop and on my dell laptop).

Do you know if I it is possible to reinstall the operating system with the product key obtained from ProduKey? If not, how can I retrieve the product key? It seems stupid that it was only placed on the sticker that is destroyed after some time if you frequently hold the laptop on your lap.

I've tried ProduKey and Recover Keys and they show the same key. However, it's not the one from the sticker.

Thanks in advance for help.