Cheers for the advice, but from a repair point of view i
need to be able to provide the support engineers with one
build that can be used over the whole estate, or even
better leave a bootable ghost image with the customer and
get them to reload it.
I have had some other replies about using volume license's
which i'm going to look into, which i'm hoping doesn't
take into account the HAL, coz as you've said above the
current build ask's you go re-activate windows as the
hardware has changed slighty.
Regards,
PKS
If the hardware has "changed" in certain ways (this is fully specified by
MS).
Volume licensing is hardly economically worth it unless you truly have -
volume. Besides, it's still a "new" install for each PC it's put on. Ever
watch the very 1st bootup routine of a brand new out of the box computer
with volume licensed XP on it? That should give you an idea of what I'm
talking about. You're not dealing with an image of a particular computer,
you're dealing with an image of a drive where XP still knows nothing (or
very little) about the hardware and the software that's about to be
installed on it. It's not just plug-n-play. There are scripts that run after
the hardware is catagorized, those scripts then install the bundled software
products and so on, on that 1st boot. And then the ULA must be agreed to or
the box will quit working after 30 days.
You see, if what the support engineers want were possible then current
anti-piracy measures would not work. Their expectation is not based in
practicality, and as "engineers" they should very well know that.
But, making an image of a fully activated computer, at manufacturing time,
is a feasible option although a labor and time intensive one. Sales could
get info from the customer before the build as to the data that is to be
used when Windows is activated, and an image made of THAT computer for later
resoration purposes of THAT computer.
Why not just include in manufacturing the requirement that another HDD be
installed that is caused to automatically be a C: drive image at specified
backup time points? Have that as a customer ordering option, and let the
support dept charge accordingly based upon the customer preference. Put the
onus on the customer and make a legal profit in the process.