this is an interesting topic ive read through most of the 8 pages and pretty much understand what the purpose and point to all of this is.. but i honestly don't recall after going through the 8 pages if this question/thought is answered (ive been at work all night, and have been drinking some very alcoholic beverages since i came home, so i dont recall too much of what ive read) : what is the purpose or significance of needing or the requirement to have a "holographic" CD from the factory? if using this method produces four required files (not including the winnt.sif here, only the oembios.* files) could these files be used in a generic OEM cd to essentially recreate the pre-activated installation? by "generic" i mean an ISO created from one of the forementioned 9 in 1 or 11 in 1 "warez" internet releases. are there other modified files on the factory cd that are required to make use of this function that would not/may not be present on a generic cd? i only ask this out of educational interest and not because i am trying to anything "illegal". i have a brand spanking new Dell system that has come with an XP reinstall CD, but i have not used it nor do i know if it "restores" the activation or if it is a straight XP install disc that I would have to use my COA key on or if it is built in with the SLP key. i had already started to test the "9in1" OEM ISO with these oembios.* files when I got to the page in the thread that said it would not work in a virtual machine since the VM's bios would not match. I dont want to waste CDR's and my already-activated system by testing to see if the 9in1 OEM would work or not.. don't ask me why I didn't just make an ISO of the restore cd, there's no answer for that... i just didnt. as i write this lengthy post, i'm testing this method on my Toshiba laptop using the oembios.* files from it and the SLP key to see if it comes out pre-activated or not. second question how does using this method differ or how is it different than the "OEMScan - Automated Multi Manufacture Pre-Activation Utility" thread? or does it not differ? from the sound of it both methods get the SLP key, and create the oembios.* files... is this correct? Ultimately what I want to accomplish is to be able to create a custom install CD using nLite/etc that is already activated--which normally would not be possible unless you started with a VLK source/key--on my laptop (which legit coa, slp, etc) and my Dell desktop (ditto on the legit). I have a restore cd for the Toshiba that restores it to factory, including the activation, but also including all the junk software. And as I said, I'm not sure what the Dell restore CD is... if it's just a straight XP install of it its an actual "restore" cd.. Sorry for the long winded post, I tend to blab on and on when I've been drinking. Thanks. -- Edit The Toshiba reinstall using the generic OEM cd is not accepting the SLP key. Dont know if I did something wrong or not (and ive wasted a cdr on this). Looking at the Toshiba restore CD its a ghost image so it would not be easy to work with.