Sysprep different machines OEM licensing and retail questions

[bradgillap]

I work in a computer shop and we get many different variations of machines. I have found all of the sysprepping resources I would need to make things work on these machines but I’m concerned about the licensing.

I planned to create a few master images and activate them after windows is installed. I usually call in all the OEM keys anyway after installing by hand. Microsofts article states that sysprepping an OEM is unsupported but that doesn’t mean impossible.

So my question is, if I use an OEM winxp SP3 or a retail SP3 to do my initial master image, will I be able to activate it properly afterwards or will sysprepping this convert my licensing to corp somehow hoping for a VLK key?

I noticed some people leave a series of X’s where the VLK key would go. Does this tell sysprep that we won’t be providing a key at that moment or does it error out at that point? You can imagine the envy I have for techs that get to work with the same hardware all day long.

I did some sysprepping a very long time ago and remember having it not work properly with OEM keys but I’m not sure if that was a funny disc I was using from the start or if it has to do with the sysprep itself.

[ssx4life]

You actually can use OEM keys with sysprep. You need to make sure they are ROYALTY OEM KEYS, as shown here - [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Locked_Pre-installation[/url]

Your second task will be to use the runonce command and make a batch script for this following application below. It will auto insert the oemslp key based off of the hardware bios.

[url]http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/82638-oemscan-automated-multi-manufacture-pre-activation-utility/[/url]

Also to clarify further you want to use an OEM MEDIA DISK (a generic one from MSFN). A pressed dell / hp / etc. disk is not what you want. You want an un-edited oem disk for XP (one with a hologram for example). Use that media to build your image.

[bradgillap]

Thanks! I’ll try this and report back with my findings.

[ssx4life]

No problem.

I’ll also point you to the updated version of oemscan which is just about perfect in my opinion - [url]http://siginetsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?541-OEMSCAN_ADDON_MULTIOEM-v1.8[/url]

I’ve worked on that project with mr. Smartiepants to some degree testing it out. It works great as a batch script or an SFX package.

Good luck, and if you need more help let us know.