XP OEM

[Kevin G]

I have 150 HP workstations that shipped with WIndwos XP OEM. The customer
downgraded the license to Windwos 2000. They are now ready to deploy XP
company wide.

Q: Can I take an image of one of the machines using a program like Ghost,
with the OWM licenses and deploy it to all the other like machines? Is this
legal or do I need another type of license to do this?

Please advise,

Kevin

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Yes, but you'll have to enter each individual OEM Product Key
manually, then activate if prompted to do so.

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

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I have 150 HP workstations that shipped with WIndwos XP OEM. The customer
| downgraded the license to Windwos 2000. They are now ready to deploy XP
| company wide.
|
| Q: Can I take an image of one of the machines using a program like Ghost,
| with the OWM licenses and deploy it to all the other like machines? Is this
| legal or do I need another type of license to do this?
|
| Please advise,
|
| Kevin

 

[Kevin G]

How do I accomplish this without having to enter the key at each
workstation?

Kevin

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

How do I accomplish this without having to enter the key at each
workstation?

You can't, if you are reinstalling the original OEM Windows XP to each
machine. (unless they are BIOS locked (SLP) installs and do not need
activating over the Internet or via telephone)

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
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[Daniel Sinclair]

Yeah, unfortunately, this is what the VLK versions are for. However, now you
have OEM, the easiest way you can resolve this is by having an image that
runs SysPrep against a floppy disk when it boots using a FullUnattended
setup.You'll need a different floppy disk for each workstation of course,
each with one of the 150 keys in it, but it will be easier than doing it all
fully manually.

1) Use SetupMgr to create an answer file, then add one of your 150
ProductKey= to 150 different files and put them on 150 different floppies.
2) Create your image using any one of the product keys, then add a command
to run SysPrep to teh RunOnce key in the registry. Shut down the machine and
take your ghost at that point.
3) put a floppy into each machine (each with a unique key) and multicast
blow the lot.

Note: You could also 'unattend' build each machine individually with 150
winnt.sif floppies.

You could also do something more sophistacated;

1) Write a simple web service that hands out one product key per IP address
2) Write a simple JScript task to fetch the product key when the image
boots, patch the SysPrep.inf file and sysprep the machines.

That's what I would do.

Daniel Sinclair
http://www.axxiant.com/

 

[Jetro]

Well, unless you got a legal VL key this approach is not legal.
I believe there is a domain so forget about unattended setups and syspreps,
just clone the same activated OEM image (use RIS). During the time you can
change OEM product keys and local SIDs if you would need it (but why?).

 

[Jetro]

It was late )
IIRC, Windows activation should recalculate the hardware hash and ask
politely about the Product Key at the first boot of OEM/Retail clone.

 

[Daniel Sinclair]

I believe there is a domain so forget about unattended setups and

syspreps,

Huh? Why?

 

[Jetro]

Because it's pointless.

 

[Daniel Sinclair]

Why is unattend and SysPrep pointless when you're in a domain?

 

[Jetro]

It's pointless cloning the OEM/Retail images unattended and sysprepped on
the same hardware in domain environment.

 

[Daniel Sinclair]

Why is it pointless?

 

[Jetro]

Because there is no point. It's possible to deploy 150 workstations faster
than to prepare 50 diskettes ) If you know the point then show me.

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

Well, unless you got a legal VL key this approach is not legal.
I believe there is a domain so forget about unattended setups and
syspreps,
just clone the same activated OEM image (use RIS). During the time you can
change OEM product keys and local SIDs if you would need it (but why?).

Jetro

Even though you are joining a domain - it is important to correctly sysprep
the machine prior to joining the domain.
This ensures that the machines local SID is unique prior to it joining the
domain where it also acquires a domain based SID.
This has been a know problem for years (right back into the Windwos NT days)
and we have always advised against any form of "brutal" cloning where you
fail to correctly regenerate the SID for the local machine prior to joining
the domain. This is one fo the primary drivers for us releasing sysprep as
a tool.
Failure to follow this guidance can lead to an unsupported environment,
security issues and additional issues with future updates and upgrades.

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
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[Jetro]

Mike,

I know, I know these recommendations and explanations )

Workgroup environment and removable NTFS-based media is the only known
situations where duplicate local SIDs can cause the problems. We all know
the SysPrep was a Microsoft answer to mass NT rollouts on dissimilar
hardware, i.e. reality, and I greatly appreciate it (believe me) but its new
SID feature is not the main one in a domain environment.

I accept the reasons why MS or any other owner of any proprietary product
enforces a restricted support policy in various situations but it is far
from SID issues.

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

Mike,

I know, I know these recommendations and explanations )

Workgroup environment and removable NTFS-based media is the only known
situations where duplicate local SIDs can cause the problems. We all know
the SysPrep was a Microsoft answer to mass NT rollouts on dissimilar
hardware, i.e. reality, and I greatly appreciate it (believe me) but its
new
SID feature is not the main one in a domain environment.

I accept the reasons why MS or any other owner of any proprietary product
enforces a restricted support policy in various situations but it is far
from SID issues.

I am not at liberty to go into greater technical detail but it is sufficient
to say you should never ever be using machines (workstations or servers)
that have duplicate SIDs irrespective of their membership of a workgroup or
a domain in any circumstances.
Please do not advise posters that it is OK to do this.

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups

 

[Daniel Sinclair]

Either we're talking at cross purposes, or maybe I'm being dumb, but what is
it about "being in a domain" that makes it easier to "deploy 150
workstations" without SysPrep? How are you planning on deploying the
machines and making the SID changes?

 

[Daniel Sinclair]

This is nonesense. Its crucial that the machine SID is different, especially
in a domain, and as Mike implies, there are other things that change, or may
need to be changed in the future which mandate the use of SysPrep in all
cases. Nobody says you need to use a floppy disk of course.

The SID is used for amongst other things;
* Generating an auto-configured IP address (OK, this isn't so desperate if
you've a DHCP server)
* Establishing a secure trust relationship with the domain, this is pretty
crucial since you need this to authenticate safely and for identification.
* COM+
etc

As a matter of fact I'm surprised you can join a domain with cloned images
using the same machine SID.

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

Either we're talking at cross purposes, or maybe I'm being dumb, but what
is it about "being in a domain" that makes it easier to "deploy 150
workstations" without SysPrep? How are you planning on deploying the
machines and making the SID changes?

That's the point - he erroneous assumes that as a machine joining a domain
gets a new Domain SID that the local SID is not relevant; so he thinks he
can just brutal clone the machines, ignore the SYSPREP and SID regeneration
and join the domain thus saving some time.

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups

 

[Daniel Sinclair]

Ah I see. I was probably for the good of the list then that I didn't leave
the "its pointless" statement unchallenged