I forget all the detail from earlier in the thread.. so sorry if this doesn't otherwise apply but

> We know you can't boot from the image
> But can you mount the image as an external drive so a computer can read the files?

As ProduKey tool provides options to lets you search external Windows installations. And (if you're lucky) the corruption is only on data sectors needed to boot. (not necessarily the sectors with windows data needed by ProduKey)

Ok, I have produkey installed. I have the bad hdd on my other computer and can see all the files. With produkey where do I search with it to find the key?

I've used ProduKey before tho never had occasion to try these options myself (so can't speak from experience) but if you look at the options described on the ProduKey page you might try

windir [Windows Directory]
Load product key information from another operating system on the same computer. The [Windows Directory] specifies the base folder of Windows installation, for example: c:\windows, c:\winnt

This feature is only supported on Windows 2000/XP/2003/2008/Vista/7.

/external
Load product key information from all external Windows installations of the disks that are currently plugged to your computer.

It finds mine but no matter where I go it does not show any.