After creating an unattended installation of Windows XP SP2 using RVM Integrator 1.4.3 and the MSFN's Unattended Installation method,

Windows comes back saying that the Product ID is not valid.

I have doubled and triple checked the WINNT.SIF file to make sure it's in there and that it is valid.

[userData]

ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

FullName="USER"

OrgName="Org"

ComputerName=*

Is there something else I'm missing?

TIA,

Iz

If you enter it maually does it work?

Are other settings from your WINNT.SOF file working?

Stupid question, but... does the key work for the original CD (before updates) ?

If you enter it maually does it work?

Yeah, I tried that, but it still wasn't working.

Are other settings from your WINNT.SOF file working?

Yeah, the other settings come down fine.

Stupid question, but... does the key work for the original CD (before updates) ?

Yeah, I verified that, and then double checked it.

I thought I had a trailing space at the end, and it turned out that it didn't make a difference.

I was wondering if there were some incripted files that it verifies the product key with?

Iz

one more stupid question then (sorry): did you check that on the same machine ?

can you post your entire winnt.sif file? Maybe we'll see something else then.

Or if you ise your orignal cd with no updates does your winnt.sif file work from a floppy?

when you made the unattended CD, did you modify the "unattend.txt" file on the CD? if you did, its possible that thats why. i've only seen one case where the serial in that file matches the one used to install, and countless cases where that number will not activate windows.

Yeah, this is on a test machine, a Dell GX620.

The contents of WINNT.SIF is below.

I also wound up deleting the unattend.txt after failing by trying to add the product key to it.

I didn't think the unattend.txt was making a difference.

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutoPartition = 1

MsDosInitiated = "0"

UnattendedInstall = "Yes"

AutomaticUpdates = yes

[unattended]

UnattendMode = FullUnattended

OemSkipEula = Yes

OemPreinstall = Yes

TargetPath = \WINDOWS

DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore

AutoActivate = Yes

KeyboardLayout = US

UnattendSwitch = Yes

FileSystem = ConvertNTFS

Repartition = Yes

ForceHALDetection = Yes

Hibernation = No

[GuiUnattended]

AdminPassword=mypassword

EncryptedAdminPassword=No

AutoLogon=Yes

AutoLogonCount=2

OEMSkipRegional=1

TimeZone=20

OemSkipWelcome=1

[Display]

BitsPerPel=32

Xresolution=1024

Yresolution=768

Vrefresh=85

AutoConfirm=1

[userData]

ProductKey="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX"

FullName="Test_User"

OrgName="MY Org"

ComputerName=*

[TapiLocation]

CountryCode=1

Dialing=Tone

AreaCode=555

[FavoritesEx]

Title1="Google.url"

URL1="http://www.google.com"

Title2="FOxnews.url"

URL2="http://www.foxnews.com"

Title3="yahoo.url"

URL3="http://www.yahoo.com"

[branding]

BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

Home_Page=http://www.mysite.com/

[Proxy]

Proxy_Enable=0

Use_Same_Proxy=1

[identification]

JoinWorkgroup="group"

[Networking]

InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Components]

msmsgs=off

msnexplr=off

zonegames=off

[shell]

DefaultStartPanel=Yes

DefaultThemesOff=Yes

[GuiRunOnce]

"%systemdrive%\install\install.cmd"

Are you using the OEM CD that came with your Dell or another XP CD?

It's another CD...

If the key is from a Dell OEM CD, and you're using a non-Dell OEM CD, then it's very, very likely the key will not work. I think there are ways around this and I'm sure it's been discussed on how to get OEMBIOS files onto a CD, but by default royalty OEM keys and discs are not the same as "retail" or non-royalty OEM discs.

the unattend.txt has nothing to do with activation, but if you aren't using the Dell CD, but you are using the Dell key, it wont work.

I ran through the same process again of recreating the BootCD. This time I used the original, WinXP, and integrated SP 2 into it. I then used the newly created I386 directory and copied over the WINNT.SIF file over and it worked. I guess the issue was with the CD I was using which was a non-Dell XP CD.

Thanks for the help.

does the key work for the original CD (before updates) ?

Yeah, I verified that, and then double checked it.

...

I guess the issue was with the CD I was using which was a non-Dell XP CD.