license/deployment question

[Dave]

We lease machines for our school.....We do not have a volume license for XP
but we are switching to XP starting with the new shipment of 200 or so
machines coming in this summer. The previous machines have XP licenses that
came with them, but are currently running windows 2k with our volume
license. I do not see us getting a volume license for XP as we are a school
and it's quite expensive....So here is my quandry. The machines come
preloaded with crap, so of course we image them with our software sets
etc...Since we don't have a volume license I'm not sure what to do. I don't
think we can use Ghost and have the same product ID on all the machines
(would this cause windows update errors etc?), we can use sysprep and enter
the product ID that came with each machine (will be a pain). Another issue
is.....The machines come with Restore Disks not full OS cd's....we haven't
located an XP media that actually works with our licenses...so I'm forced to
"clean" up a preinstalled machine and make the image from that....I'd much
prefer to start fresh...Any ideas? I know this is a long post and my train
of thought is flying around, but this is not an easy thing to put into words
(at least for me) Thanks for any assistance!

-Dave

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

If I were you, I'd just as soon leave the preinstalled versions of
Windows XP installed. PC manufacturer's Restore CDs require
the Product Key assigned to each computer. Only thing you can
do is ask the PC manufacturer for Volume Licensing and see if
they can accommodate you. Microsoft recommends the use of
Volume Licensing media when using a Ghost image or Sysprep.

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

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

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| We lease machines for our school.....We do not have a volume license for XP
| but we are switching to XP starting with the new shipment of 200 or so
| machines coming in this summer. The previous machines have XP licenses that
| came with them, but are currently running windows 2k with our volume
| license. I do not see us getting a volume license for XP as we are a school
| and it's quite expensive....So here is my quandry. The machines come
| preloaded with crap, so of course we image them with our software sets
| etc...Since we don't have a volume license I'm not sure what to do. I don't
| think we can use Ghost and have the same product ID on all the machines
| (would this cause windows update errors etc?), we can use sysprep and enter
| the product ID that came with each machine (will be a pain). Another issue
| is.....The machines come with Restore Disks not full OS cd's....we haven't
| located an XP media that actually works with our licenses...so I'm forced to
| "clean" up a preinstalled machine and make the image from that....I'd much
| prefer to start fresh...Any ideas? I know this is a long post and my train
| of thought is flying around, but this is not an easy thing to put into words
| (at least for me) Thanks for any assistance!
|
| -Dave

 

[Dave]

The only problem with that is, it comes pre-installed with tons of crap and
we have a load set of applications we use as well. I tried removing the
"crap" and cleaning up the HD but as you probably experienced before, it's
not possible to get it all, and I'd prefer a fresh install. We're a school
so the volume licensing is out the door for now....I think our best bet
would be to try to find a media that works with our licenses and then just
use sysprep and enter each individual license after ghosting.

Thanks for the reply.

-D