Licensing Question

[Nigel Bruce]

Hello

The problem I am facing is one of great distress (cos I have been dumped in
this position basically!?!?!). We have recently purchased 70 new PC's
running XP Pro OS, with the plan to purchase another 70 mid to late summer.
That is not my problem, HERE is my problem, these PC's were bought WITHOUT
volume licences but with OEM licences and the big problems occur when I have
to ghost\image the PC (+ OS) as it wants to register itself on the web.

I know that I will only get away with this (registration) for maybe a couple
of times if I am lucky but would be overjoyed if someone could give me a
solution to get around this problem.

Just to say I have been in contact with Microsoft and they won't budge to
combine the licences, also my firm will not fork out £20,000 for the volume
licences.

I have a thought about putting the OS on one area of the disc partition and
the image on another - but wondered if there was a tweak or dare I say it a
hack that will avoid me having to do even this?

All serious comment\suggestions much appreciated

 

[Roady [MVP]]

And how is this Outlook related?

Anyway, you can create an unattended file and don't put in the key. During
setup you'll be prompted to put in the key which can easily be found on the
machine itself.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

-----
Hello

The problem I am facing is one of great distress (cos I have been dumped in
this position basically!?!?!). We have recently purchased 70 new PC's
running XP Pro OS, with the plan to purchase another 70 mid to late summer.
That is not my problem, HERE is my problem, these PC's were bought WITHOUT
volume licences but with OEM licences and the big problems occur when I have
to ghost\image the PC (+ OS) as it wants to register itself on the web.

I know that I will only get away with this (registration) for maybe a couple
of times if I am lucky but would be overjoyed if someone could give me a
solution to get around this problem.

Just to say I have been in contact with Microsoft and they won't budge to
combine the licences, also my firm will not fork out £20,000 for the volume
licences.

I have a thought about putting the OS on one area of the disc partition and
the image on another - but wondered if there was a tweak or dare I say it a
hack that will avoid me having to do even this?

All serious comment\suggestions much appreciated

 

[Nigel Bruce]

Apologies Roady, this was meant to be sent to the WindowsXP General
newsgroup and not the Outlook General, Sorry.

If I haven't pee'd you off too badly could you explain your answer a little
more?

Regards

Nigel

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Sure. I'm not sure how you do the imaging part but whatever you do don't
install the workstation and then just clone the disk. You must use sysprep
if you want to do a disk image or a riprep if you are going to use a RIS
server for deployment.

You'll find a lot of information on how to deploy Windows XP in the
Deployment Tools;
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...91-AC56-4665-949B-BEDA3080E0F6&displaylang=en

It takes some time to read and to test everything. But trust me; once you
get it right you'll be saving soooo much time with re-/installing clients. I
use RIS for deployment with a single CD-based image for over 300 clients
with about 10 different hardware configurations. All configuration of
Windows and adding hardware support is done through modifying the sif-file.
Software is being deployed and configured by using Software Deployment in
Active Directory and policies. The great thing about this is that when you
get some new hardware you don't have to start all over again. Just update or
add some drivers and you're ready to go.

Installing clients is now just hitting F12 on startup of the computer and
logging in to the RIS server. The rest goes automatically and is done in
less than an hour. You should be able to achieve the same with the
difference that somewhere during the installation you'll need to input the
key.

I'm not sure if there are tools for changing the Product Key after install
by script but there are some GUI tools that can do this like MagicJellyBean.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

-----

Apologies Roady, this was meant to be sent to the WindowsXP General
newsgroup and not the Outlook General, Sorry.

If I haven't pee'd you off too badly could you explain your answer a
little more?

Regards

Nigel

And how is this Outlook related?

Anyway, you can create an unattended file and don't put in the key.
During
setup you'll be prompted to put in the key which can easily be found on
the
machine itself.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within
Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

-----
Hello

The problem I am facing is one of great distress (cos I have been dumped
in
this position basically!?!?!). We have recently purchased 70 new PC's
running XP Pro OS, with the plan to purchase another 70 mid to late
summer.
That is not my problem, HERE is my problem, these PC's were bought
WITHOUT
volume licences but with OEM licences and the big problems occur when I
have
to ghost\image the PC (+ OS) as it wants to register itself on the web.

I know that I will only get away with this (registration) for maybe a
couple
of times if I am lucky but would be overjoyed if someone could give me a
solution to get around this problem.

Just to say I have been in contact with Microsoft and they won't budge to
combine the licences, also my firm will not fork out £20,000 for the
volume
licences.

I have a thought about putting the OS on one area of the disc partition
and
the image on another - but wondered if there was a tweak or dare I say it
a
hack that will avoid me having to do even this?

All serious comment\suggestions much appreciated

 

[RJG]

Hi Nigel --

I was wondering if you ever figured out a solution to your problem of
creating an image with individual Office key codes? I am familiar with how
to use SysPrep, but not sure how to do the office piece. If you found out, I
would like to hear back from you.

Ralph

Apologies Roady, this was meant to be sent to the WindowsXP General
newsgroup and not the Outlook General, Sorry.

If I haven't pee'd you off too badly could you explain your answer a little
more?

Regards

Nigel

And how is this Outlook related?

Anyway, you can create an unattended file and don't put in the key. During
setup you'll be prompted to put in the key which can easily be found on
the
machine itself.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within
Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

-----
Hello

The problem I am facing is one of great distress (cos I have been dumped
in
this position basically!?!?!). We have recently purchased 70 new PC's
running XP Pro OS, with the plan to purchase another 70 mid to late
summer.
That is not my problem, HERE is my problem, these PC's were bought WITHOUT
volume licences but with OEM licences and the big problems occur when I
have
to ghost\image the PC (+ OS) as it wants to register itself on the web.

I know that I will only get away with this (registration) for maybe a
couple
of times if I am lucky but would be overjoyed if someone could give me a
solution to get around this problem.

Just to say I have been in contact with Microsoft and they won't budge to
combine the licences, also my firm will not fork out £20,000 for the
volume
licences.

I have a thought about putting the OS on one area of the disc partition
and
the image on another - but wondered if there was a tweak or dare I say it
a
hack that will avoid me having to do even this?

All serious comment\suggestions much appreciated