I ran into a highly unusual situation on my Mac, and so after almost three years of solid operation I had to re-install the operating system. I had license keys for all of my other software, but not QuickTime. But all is not lost! Apple retains your licenses for “downloadable software”.

1. Use your web browser to go to the Apple Store. (Note: Those outside of the U.S. may need to go to Apple’s country-specific web site. See Simon’s remarks in the comment section below.)
2. Locate the “Account Link” in the upper right-hand corner.
   

   Apple Store account link

3. Log into your Apple Store account.
4. Click on “Downloadable software purchases”.
   

   Downloadable software purchases link

5. You will find the “Registered Name” and “Keys” information that you will need for entering into QuickTime to unlock the Pro funcitonality.
   

   Here is the "Registered Name" and "Keys" information needed to unlock QuickTime Pro.

6. In Finder, go to Applications to run QuickTime.
   

   Run QuickTime

7. In the “QuickTime Player” menut at the top left of the screen, select “
8. Copy the information from the “Downloadable Software Purchases” web page to the QuickTime Pro Registration screen.
   

   Copy registration informaiton into the QuickTime registration screen.

9. That’s it! You’re done.

Updates

2009-04-29

Added comments alerting people outside of the U.S. that they may need to go to a country-specific Apple web site per Simon’s remarks.

1. chuck bryant Says:
   February 8th, 2009 at 9:49 am

   This is great — except #5, where I find my account doesn’t show my purchase. It was maybe a year or so ago. Suggestions?

   Thanks,
   Chuck B

2. James Reuben Knowles Says:
   February 8th, 2009 at 7:26 pm

   Argh! I’m sorry to hear that, Chuck. I wish I could give you an authoritative answer.

   Did you ever register more than once? Apple’s user registration system is kind of screwy, and I did that in my confusion. (Maybe I’m just easily confused.) I had to check both accounts when looking for information at one point.

   Do you have the date of purchase, or any details like that? I don’t know if Apple support can help with that or not. I’ve only called them two or three times and were helpful, but that was on hardware problems we had a few years ago.

   You may want to post your question on the Apple forums, too.

   Again, I don’t know, and am just throwing out guesses. If you do figure it out, and are so inclined to share, I invite you to post your answer in another comment so others might benefit.

3. Simon Beaumont Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 6:35 am

   Just so you know… I had the same problem. You need to go to the correct store depending on your location or the location of which apple web store you purchased it from.

   The apple.com store didn’t show my purchase even though I’d logged in but the UK store did.

   Hope this helps,
   Si

4. James Reuben Knowles Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 9:01 am

   Simon,

   Thank you very much for that additional information. I’m in the US and didn’t investigate how Apple’s web sites work outside the US. I made a note of this in the main body of text alerting people to this caveat. I hope your comments are useful to others.

   James

5. Jon K Says:
   January 24th, 2010 at 2:53 pm

   Thank you for this article! I had exactly the same problem and have been debating purchasing a new license for months. Following your instructions I now have my old registration number!

   I adding your to my regular reading list now

   Jon

6. James Reuben Knowles Says:
   January 25th, 2010 at 9:47 am

   I’m glad you found it helpful, Jon.

   This site is mostly personal “how to” notes written after I’ve banged my head against a wall for a while, but you’re certainly welcome to peruse regularly if you’re so inclined.

7. jonathan Says:
   February 8th, 2010 at 11:59 pm

   the history is really only good for the last 18 months. So history is really 18 months… ask me how I know.

8. James Reuben Knowles Says:
   February 9th, 2010 at 12:34 am

   Johnathan,

   I found your note a little alarming, thinking that perhaps Apple has purged old information.

   I just logged into my account to double-check that I could see my entire history. My account shows the history going back to February 2005, a full five years.

   I don’t know what you’re seeing… or not seeing, as the case may be.