Bezalel

I've had the same experiances as Ken but I noticed that when I Used the MCE CDs the EULA alwas said MCE even when I used a Pro or Tablet key.

The generic key can be used to install any OEM copy of Windows. The Royalty OEMs get customized OEMBIOS.* files but they use the standard SETUPP.INI file. If you use a generic key with a hologrammed CD the activation wizard will force you to change the key. Each Royalty OEM is given their own key but the key is not tied to the OEMBIOS.* files.

How can I determine what the avtivation status of a pc is? I need to know which of the following describes a particular computer: Needs Activation Activated Exempt (VLK) Exempt (Royalty OEM) I can determine if a computer was activated by checking for the existance of WPA.BAK but this doesn't mean that it is still activated. I can determine if a volume license was used by checking for the channel ID of 640 in the PID

The BMP files can be removed with the following lines in your winnt.sif [Components] deskpaper=off Th JPG files are installed as part of Active Desktop. BTW Your wallpapers should be in \$OEM$\$$\Web\Wallpaper

The following items must be installed in order: 1) .NET Framework 1.1 2) .NET Framework 1.1 SP1 3) Update Rollup 2 for MCE 4) .NET Framework 1.1 Hotfix KB886904 (For most users this patch is not needed but Update Rollup 2 cannot be installed if this patch has been installed) My unattended CD does the first three, I let WSUS take care of the hotfixes because I don't want to rebuild my CD on the second Tuesday of each month. Update Rollup 2 is described in KB article 900325

Are you using nLite?

You need to use KeyboardLayout=00000C0C

I just ran out of room on my unattended CD and decided to move to DVD. However when I open the ISO file Nero will anly allow me to choose to burn the Image to a CD-R (Which there isn't enough room on) but not to a DVD-R. I found the following quote on Ahead's website that states: An image file created for CDs can only be written to CDs. An image file created for DVDs can only be written to DVDs. How can I create an ISO for DVDs using CDIMAGE?

During Setup you should use HKCU\... after setup you shouls use HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\... but this will only apply to profiles that haven't been created. (With some programs you can even use HKLM\... for all users)

Windows Registry Editor 5.00 [HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop] "Wallpaper"="FilePathAndName.bmp" If you want to use a JPG file it gets more complicated

If you are using Hardware RAID you just need to make sure you include the RAID controller drivers. This cannot be done with Software RAID.

If you are building your own PCs than you are considered a system builder. The list I got from MS doesn't have this item on it so I suspect that it might not have SP2 but since it starts wit E85 it seems to be XP Pro. The part# you should be looking for is E85-04164 or E85-04137 if you need the MUI.

Here is MS's sample file: REM .Net 1.1 dotnetfx-eng.exe /q:a /c:"install /l /q" REM .Net 1.1 SP1 SP1-dotnetfx-eng.exe /q REM Rollup2 KB900325-usa.exe /quiet /norestart I call this file from cmdlines.txt

You need to use a Factory Key and not a COA Key. You can also use one of the keys mentioned on this page: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...y/oempreac.mspx

You can add the file jo.sys from the Windows 98 CD boot image to your floppy disk

According to the EULA you cannot transfer the license to another PC and in MSs opinion this would be another PC. The activation center's role is not licence enforcement, their promary concern is that the key is only being used on 1 PC. (I'd mention that I changed the hardware but wouldn't mention that it was the motherboard)

This .REG file should work but I haven't tested it. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders] "Personal"="D:\\%USERNAME%\\My Documents" [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce] "Create Personal Folder"="MKDIR D:\\%USERNAME%\\My Documents" I'd rather use D:\Documents\%USERNAME%.

Here is the information:

here are MS's recomendations CPU: 1.6GHz without software encoding and 3.0GHz with software encoding HDD: 60GB + RAM: 512MB GPU RAM: 128MB DDR Recordable DVD Drive Broadband Ready

The contents on the tagfile doesn't matter just make a copy of win51ip and name it win51ip2. (since the contents of each file is identical all of their directory entries can point to the same cluster on the CD.)

If the MB is being replaced because the origional MB is defective than it is not considured a new PC.

No setup will look for the cmpnents directory on the current CD. If you want to be sure you can create a tagfile named win51ip2 in the root on the CD.

You don't need a winnt.sif file unless you are making an unattended install. If your winnt.sif file has a [components] section then you must include medctr and netfx.

You need to change the CD-Key fron the factory key to the COA-Key. The factory key cannot be activated and the COA Key can only be activated by phone.

You can add real mode machine code that prompts for a password and add that code to setupldr.bin. MS allowed Royalty OEMs to do a BIOS check at this point for Windows 2000. (If you have access to the Windows 2000 OPK take a look at appendix 3 in bioslock.doc)