mittern8

I'll check it later this evening, but from a first look I'm quite shure they're different. Groetjes naar de Nederlands. <EDITH> Guess you already checked it yourself, didn't you? THANX 4 your help with the Sony MCE! And, here comes another one, an ACER Aspire 1310 </EDITH>

Another two Medion PCs (Notebooks) and a Sony VAIO VGN-FE21H. <EDITH> P.S.: Anyone who can help me with the full DMI report of a Sony? </EDITH>

Ja, okay! So, it seems quite clear that SLP is using a different mechanism as WMI does, right? P.S.: I'm very keen to see how U solve the problem with the OEMBIOS files! And, BTW, just read an articel on Windows Vista and BitLocker Drive Encryption

I'll reply to that more detailed later on (it's early morning over here in Germany and I want to check a few things first). But ... Even if SLP activation doesn't check the DMI tables itself, the manufacturer string for sure derives from the DMI table data. Otherwise I wouldn't have been successfull in patching the string in the DMI table and keep the pre-activation working on atotally different hardware leaving OEMBIOS files untouched. In my opinion this is a more than sufficient practical proof. To verify this (theoretically) we have to ask how and from where the WMI does collect it's infos. For example: With the function you use, you retrieve the "Manufacturer-" and the "Model-String". This "Model-String" is non existent in the DMI tables, but instead I discovered it in the ACPI APIC table ("OEM TABLE ID") - where you (vice versa) won't find a "Manufacturer-String". Even though the "Model-String" is (yet) of no interest for the pre-activation (but it will become important in concern of Trusted Computing), it leads me to the conclusion that the WMI data is collected from different sources (DMI table, ACPI APIC table and so on) and compiled to the WMI database. So my intension is to find out what data sources should be examined and how the chances are to modify them. Some thoughts on "Trusted Computing":

Looking at the price difference (MCE2005: 99 EUR/122 USD vs Pro: 129 EUR/158 USD) you may accept the inconvenience of the missing group policy editor and the centralized management - as long as you can help yourself with some registry tweaks.

Maybe this comparison table helps?

Sorry for this, maybe, stupid question - but to avoid misunderstanding:Do I get you right? As long as I have the oembios files and the corresponding product key from the registry I can use them to create a pre-activated installation CD of any version of WIN XP, including Home, MCE2005, TabletPC2005 and Pro? And what do you mean with I don't get this.Thought the product key of a pre-activated installation has to fit to the oembios files which on the other hand fits to a special manufacturer?

Hello and greetings from YerMoney! This is my first time posting on this board, so let me start with telling you, that I'm deeply impressed by the threads I read tonite. I focused mainly on the 'works' of Bezalel, because I'm trying to figure out, which part of the DMI-table is checked to see whether the installed Windows is pre-activated or not. My first guess was the "Manufacturer"-string, since I was able to install a pre-activated (SLP) OEM Windows on a different mainboard after I patched the "Manufacturer"-string in this boards DMI-table. Well, this worked like a charme! Now it is interesting to see that you're trying to get rid of the problem to keep the pre-activation the other way round - by exchanging the OEMBIOS-files on the setup media (as far as I understand this thread). Anyway - patching the DMI-table or collecting a pool of different oembios-files - I greatly apreciate the fact, that this thread gives a collection of different manufacturer strings! So here is my contribution Oh, and by the way, a very informative tool is available from german compu-mag c't, named ctdmi.exe and bundled in ctbios15.zip - unfortunately only available in german.