I know this will seem like a stupid question but here it goes. I am in charge of upgrading my office to windows XP. After some price checking, some of the upper ups want to go with the OEM version of XP. I have only worked with the corporate version of the OS,which does not ask for activation. I want to make a ghosted image of one PC and deploy the image to about 50 other PCs; when activating XP do i have to activate every instance of the OS even if they are the same hardware? Also if i go with the OEM version i will end up with about 50 CDs, is there away around my loading 50 PC seperately?

You should only use a Volume License (VL) version of Windows XP.
Otherwise, you'll have to individually insert an OEM Product Key and
activate XP for each installation. Also, OEM versions cannot upgrade
over an existing Windows installation.....clean installs only.

How to Use Sysprep: An Introduction
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p...troduction.asp

Windows XP SP1a Corporate Deployment Tools
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p...eploytools.asp

Summary of the limitations of the System Preparation tool
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

When you clone a Windows XP installation to many computers,
the destination computers have the same SID and computer name as the source
Windows installation. Because Windows XP networks use each computer's
SID and computer name to uniquely identify the computer on the network, you must
change the SID and computer name on each destination (client) computer after cloning.

Visit:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...&osv=&osv_lvl=

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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"kraven" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message:
news:9FA06113-EC58-49B0-9962-(E-Mail Removed)...

|I know this will seem like a stupid question but here it goes. I am in charge of upgrading my office to
windows XP. After some price checking, some of the upper ups want to go with the OEM version of XP. I have
only worked with the corporate version of the OS,which does not ask for activation. I want to make a ghosted
image of one PC and deploy the image to about 50 other PCs; when activating XP do i have to activate every
instance of the OS even if they are the same hardware? Also if i go with the OEM version i will end up with
about 50 CDs, is there away around my loading 50 PC seperately?

Along with the information Carey provided, OEM copies of Windows do not come
with any support from Microsoft - the company that sold you the OEM copies
of Windows are supposed to provide support, but they often fall short of the
mark...

Also, the licenses cannot be transferred from the first machine they are
installed on. I you buy a new computer to replace one you already have,
you'll have to buy a new copy of Windows to put on it, because you can't
transfer OEM copies.

In your situation, it really does make more sense to go with a VLK edition
of Windows XP. When it comes to OEM editions of Windows in a corporate
environment, you get what you pay for... and there's a reason you're paying
less for OEM copies.

--
Mike Kolitz MCSE 2000
MS-MVP - Windows Setup / Deployment


"kraven" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:9FA06113-EC58-49B0-9962-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I know this will seem like a stupid question but here it goes. I am in
>charge of upgrading my office to windows XP. After some price checking,
>some of the upper ups want to go with the OEM version of XP. I have only
>worked with the corporate version of the OS,which does not ask for
>activation. I want to make a ghosted image of one PC and deploy the image
>to about 50 other PCs; when activating XP do i have to activate every
>instance of the OS even if they are the same hardware? Also if i go with
>the OEM version i will end up with about 50 CDs, is there away around my
>loading 50 PC seperately?