XP Pro OEM Windows Product Activation w/RIS deployment

[Doc]

Hello All,
We just purchased over 60 notebooks from Dell and I'm
nearly finished setting up the RIS install for the first
image.
When I built the XP Pro image from the W2K Server I used
the OEM XP Disc, so I know it's native OEM.

The install and nearly everything else is great.

The only problem now is that after the install, it's
wanting to run WPA which it shouldn't need.

What happened to the OEM SLP information (using the BIOS)
when making CD image into RIS?

-Doc

 

[Rob]

All I can think of is to make sure the files:

Oembios.bin (Oembios.bi_)
Oembios.cat (Oembios.ca_)
Oembios.dat (Oembios.da_)
Oembios.sig (Oembios.si_)

on the distro you made byte match the ones on the OEM copy of XP (these are
encrypted, Verisign signed files specific
to the SLP installation).

 

[Doc]

Hi thanks for the reply!
I just did an FC on the OEM files, yes they all are
identical.

Hmmmm. Wait a moment....These units shipped with BIOS A28,
we upped to A29....however, if that were the cause, then
my non-RIS (boot-from-cd) installs would also ask for WPA
(which they do not, they're fine).

Am I missing something in terms of an unattend.txt or the
like from the DELL OEM CD?

-Doc

 

[Rob]

The SLP process works like this - OEM is assigned an SLP installation key
unique to them from Microsoft. OEM then embeds this key in sysprep.inf at
the factory using a WinPE install methodology. OEM then creates an
OEMBIOS.INI file, this file describes where a text string containing the OEM
name can be found in memory. OEM submits file to MS, MS sends back a .CAT
file. OEM signs the CAT file with Verisign ID. CAT file is processed,
signed by MS and sent back. These files are then incorporated into your
unattended distro. During factory install, OEM's sysprep.inf is processed
and is not included in the final imaged product.

All I can think of is this, your RIS distro doesn't have an ID key. If this
is the case, run AIDA32 on a working machine to get the OEM key, then
incorporate this key into your sysprep or unattend on your RIS distrobution
and see if that works.

 

[Guest]

Rob, I appreciate your help. It feel like I'm close to
figuring this thing out, but am just shy of an epiphany.

I'm going to do as you suggest here tonight and report
back.
-Thanks
-Doc

 

[Rob]

well???

Rob, I appreciate your help. It feel like I'm close to
figuring this thing out, but am just shy of an epiphany.

I'm going to do as you suggest here tonight and report
back.
-Thanks
-Doc

 

[Guest]

If I'm reading this right: WPA is skipped by putting the product key in the answer file, there is a template that can be found in the help menu of answer file settings

It's inserted into [user data] in the answer file. You must enter this into the CD based image that was uploaded, and any other specific image with XP

Ro
Hello All
We just purchased over 60 notebooks from Dell and I'm
nearly finished setting up the RIS install for the first
image
When I built the XP Pro image from the W2K Server I used
the OEM XP Disc, so I know it's native OEM

The install and nearly everything else is great.

The only problem now is that after the install, it's
wanting to run WPA which it shouldn't need

What happened to the OEM SLP information (using the BIOS)
when making CD image into RIS

-Do

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