Virtuali -- I disagree
Well, you can disagree if you like, but it won't change the fact our software don't place the .REG files there. The one and only place were *our software* puts a .REG file there, is in your Home folder ( C:\Users\YOURNAME, usually )
First of all, I said they are in the root of the drive the sim is installed on. Not in the simulator.
Alright, but they are not in the root of the drive the sim is installed into. The place/drive the sim is installed into doesn't have ANY relationship to where the .REG files are saved. The one and only thing that affects them, is the location of your USER ACCOUNT folder which, as I've said, it's usually here:
C:\Users\YOURNAME
In my case, P3D is installed on my E: drive and at E:\ (not E:\Prepar3d) there are a number of .reg files for use in reinstallation. I didn't move them there. And yes I did assume he was on P3D. I can do a screenshot if you wish to see.
I don't doubt you have a copy of these files there, but that's only because you moved them manually, and forgot about it.
Maybe you assumed these files have to "be" in some place to automatically register the software, so you moved them to different places, saw nothing changed (as it's supposed to be) and left them there. A common mistake many user do: they assume the files must "be" placed in some place, either the simulator root or somewhere else, and their very presence will automatically activate the software. That's not how it works: they can be placed anywhere, and nothing in the software would change, the only way to use them is to Double-click to insert them in the registry, because that's what they are: the standard Registry export format, which is used that way. Nothing our software ever *reads* from those files, they are there waiting to be double-clicked to insert the Serial Number in the registry, so you won't have to type it BY HAND.
And, as I've said, when the software is activated for the first time, they are saved in your Home folder under C:\Users\YOURNAME, since we assume you WILL do a backup of your folder, and there's also an option to keep it intact when reinstalling Windows so, by putting there, there might be less chances to lose them.