Best way to format and reinstall all OEM computers

[Jordan]

We are a small company so we have no power to dictate Dell, HP or our
whitebox vendor to hold harware configs for us so we have to get what we get
at the time. I have been purchasing whiteboxes for the past couple of years
regularly so I have quite a few configs.

The whitebox vendor has not been consistant on some of the installs. They
keep adding some of the optional software that comes with the CD burners,
video cards and network cards as well as other junk like messengers, Trial
AV protection, etc. This is causing more that just a few annoyances for my
trying to manage with standard AD tools like Group Policies and such.

I have made up my mind that I want to blow away every image on all the
drives and just re-install Windows XP and deal with the drivers on a case by
case basis. What is the best tool to do this to about 30 computer with
slight differences in hardware? (Yes the drive controller is one that is
different across a lot of the computers)

I would prefer something where I can either use the Boot ROM capabilities of
the NICs in the computers or even a floppy that will boot to the network.

 

[Michael D. Ober]

Purchase a Generic XP with a volume license key and use it. You can use
this key as many times as you have already purchased XP (OEM or retail).
You will still need to install drivers on each machine, but this will
eliminate all the garbage that OEMs seem to think is required.

Mike Ober.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

We are a small company so we have no power to dictate Dell, HP or
our whitebox vendor to hold harware configs for us so we have to
get what we get at the time. I have been purchasing whiteboxes for
the past couple of years regularly so I have quite a few configs.

The whitebox vendor has not been consistant on some of the
installs. They keep adding some of the optional software that
comes with the CD burners, video cards and network cards as well as
other junk like messengers, Trial AV protection, etc. This is
causing more that just a few annoyances for my trying to manage
with standard AD tools like Group Policies and such.
I have made up my mind that I want to blow away every image on all
the drives and just re-install Windows XP and deal with the drivers
on a case by case basis. What is the best tool to do this to about
30 computer with slight differences in hardware? (Yes the drive
controller is one that is different across a lot of the computers)

I would prefer something where I can either use the Boot ROM
capabilities of the NICs in the computers or even a floppy that
will boot to the network.

Generic OEM copy, list of the CD Keys and...

http://unattended.sourceforge.net/

 

[Jordan]

MS does not let you do that. I know it seems too strict for MS to not allow
that but they don't want any VL or retail keys on OEM boxes.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

We are a small company so we have no power to dictate Dell, HP or
our whitebox vendor to hold harware configs for us so we have to
get what we get at the time. I have been purchasing whiteboxes
for the past couple of years regularly so I have quite a few
configs.
The whitebox vendor has not been consistant on some of the
installs. They keep adding some of the optional software that
comes with the CD burners, video cards and network cards as well
as other junk like messengers, Trial AV protection, etc. This is
causing more that just a few annoyances for my trying to manage
with standard AD tools like Group Policies and such.

I have made up my mind that I want to blow away every image on
all the drives and just re-install Windows XP and deal with the
drivers on a case by case basis. What is the best tool to do
this to about 30 computer with slight differences in hardware?
(Yes the drive controller is one that is different across a lot
of the computers)
I would prefer something where I can either use the Boot ROM
capabilities of the NICs in the computers or even a floppy that
will boot to the network.

Michael D. Ober wrote

Purchase a Generic XP with a volume license key and use it. You
can use this key as many times as you have already purchased XP
(OEM or retail). You will still need to install drivers on each
machine, but this will eliminate all the garbage that OEMs seem to
think is required.

MS does not let you do that. I know it seems too strict for MS to
not allow that but they don't want any VL or retail keys on OEM
boxes.

If you buy a VL, you can put it on any computer you desire. That's the
whole point.

It's usually the OEMs who have to sell their products with an OS on it -
although they make exceptions with server-level hardware.

 

[Jordan]

You can put a VL on any computer provided you purchased the correct number
of VL seats. OEM licenses must be activated per the license agreement and
if you use VL media you are not activating your software as required. You
can't just purchase a VL media and install it on as many computers as you
want even if you have the same count of OEM licenses that you installed.

MS really stresses that VL, Retail, and OEM seats are not the same and you
are not to use them for that purpose. OEMs cannot be taken of a computer
and move to another. If the OEM computer gets zapped beyond repair you
cannot take OEM Windows and OEM Office and install it on another PC. You
can with VLs.

MS "might" let you slide if they came in and audited you however they do not
have to if they don't want to.