[way to detect mac-address WinPE network booted on?]

The fastest way to get the MAC Address(es) in WinPE 2.x is:

For /F "tokens=12* delims= " %i IN ('ipconfig /all ^| find /I "Physical Address"') DO echo %i

[Has anyone here used Windows Automated Installation Kit to install an]

No - it's either RIS or CD-based flat-file installs, sysprep, or riprep. You can find sysprep on the XP CD, and RIS/risetup can be installed on Server 2003 or 2000 Server.

Will using a sysprep.inf answer file work for a syspreped XP image, captured in .wim format, using ImageX.exe? sysprep.inf was being used for ghost images, so may be should work for wim images now.

Has anyone tried it?