Sysprep will not let me enter Key when image is restored.

[Kenny MacDonald]

I bought 5 new dell D430 laptops, all the exact same model with same
hardware. Instead of having set them all up each now (and in the future) I
read up on sysprep and created an image using ghost. I followed the exact
instructions and left the Product Key blank hoping it would ask me for it
when I restore the image to one of the other laptops. After I restored, and
did the reseal, it went through the xp setup, and asked for everything except
the product Key. It booted fine and I did the genuine test and it passed.

So I thought i would download the Magic Jellybean Keyfinder to see what the
key was and sure enough its using the previous key of the machine I used to
image it. So using the keyfinder I tried to change the key to the one
assigned to that hardware, but it tells me the key is invalid. Also my
service tag followed me from the old machine in the Dell Express Service Code
software thats installed. Instead of showing the service tag on the bottom
of the machine I just restored the image to, its showing the service tag of
the image I created.

I'm positive i did the sysprep correctly. I'd really hate to have to make
an image of each one of these machines. Is there a better way?

Thanks!

 

[Inthemix88]

Hello,
When you build your image, you need to have a volume license disk and
a volume license disk. You can not create a master image to deploy to
multiple machines without them.

So long,
Martin Reyes

 

[Dave R.]

I bought 5 new dell D430 laptops, all the exact same model with same
hardware. Instead of having set them all up each now (and in the
future) I
read up on sysprep and created an image using ghost. I followed the
exact
instructions and left the Product Key blank hoping it would ask me for
it
when I restore the image to one of the other laptops. After I
restored, and
did the reseal, it went through the xp setup, and asked for everything
except
the product Key. It booted fine and I did the genuine test and it
passed.

So I thought i would download the Magic Jellybean Keyfinder to see
what the
key was and sure enough its using the previous key of the machine I
used to
image it. So using the keyfinder I tried to change the key to the one
assigned to that hardware, but it tells me the key is invalid. Also
my
service tag followed me from the old machine in the Dell Express
Service Code
software thats installed. Instead of showing the service tag on the
bottom
of the machine I just restored the image to, its showing the service
tag of
the image I created.

I'm positive i did the sysprep correctly. I'd really hate to have to
make
an image of each one of these machines. Is there a better way?

I'm not sure why it isn't prompting for the key, you did do a
sysprep -reseal, right? It might be informative to see your
sysprep.inf.

On my Dell systems, I do a clean install of XP from the Dell media
(which never asks for a key) and then sysprep -reseal them. However, I
DON'T want to have to enter the key, so in my sysprep.inf I use the same
key Dell ships on all of their XP Pro systems that from what I've heard
makes them validate against the BIOS or something.

Ignore Inthemix88's response, I don't think he is on the same page as
you and I are. There is nothing wrong with your approach, and you don't
need volume licensing to do it.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Kenny MacDonald]

Dave R.
Thanks for your response. I've got it working but not sure how. Here's
what I did:

What I had to do was use the command line instead of using the sysprep menu.
I created a batch file with the command 'sysprep.exe -activate -mini -quiet
-reseal' and created the c:\sysprep folder, dumped the tools in it
(including the batch file, then I ran the batch file.

It prepped it automatically (I couldn't configure anything such as
computername, display etc..) but when it rebooted it started mini setup and
asked for the cd key. Then I had to configure computer name,
workgroup/domain, regional info, etc..

I wonder if I would have selected those parameters during the menu driven
setup would it have worked as well?
What is different with this approach (other than using command line) than
the other?

Thanks!

 

[Dave R.]

I'm glad you've gotten it working - the first time is always the hardest


I've never used the menu-driven setup so I don't know for sure, but it
is my understanding that the command-line and menu-driven approach are
the same.

The command-line I use is sysprep.exe -mini -quiet -reseal, and I supply
many of the configuration options like workgroup etc. in a sysprep.inf
file. When it is done, I use ghost to pull an image and I'm ready to
deploy. Many of the settings you are using that are the same from
machine to machine can be done this way.

Regards,

Dave