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MSDNAA XP Pro with SP2


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Folks, I need your help!

I've used Windows XP Home since its introduction but recently I obtained a version of Windows XP Professional with SP2 integrated via my University and the MSDN 'Academic Alliance' as I'm an eligible candidate. To my point, I always thought that the MSDN CD's of the Operating Systems were pretty much like the Manufacturer Royalty OEM CD's, that they required no activation. Great, I thought, the migration to Professional would be painless as there seems to be the OEMBIOS files.

However, when I installed with my key, the system asked me to re-activate, what a killjoy, although I can't complain as it cost me nothing and Professional is better.

So, although the OEMBIOS files are present, it needs activating, is there anything I might be doing wrong? Such as using a different key hidden in a different file or something? This was the case with my royalty XP Home, when I first got into creating unattended CDs, I used the CD key on the back of the computer and found I needed to activate, however, looking into the CD files, I found the WINNT.sif file had the manufacturer key, which allowed the pre-activated state upon XP install. Although, the MSDN CD does not have a WINNT.sif file!

So, how do I create a CD from the MSDNAA CD that will install pre-activated? Or am I wrong in my assumptions that the MSDN CD's allow OEM-style pre-activation?

I only ask as I would like to move to XP Professional but have got used to not activating after a format and reinstall!

All comments and suggestions would be very much appreciated, thanks.

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Folks, I need your help!

I've used Windows XP Home since its introduction but recently I obtained a version of Windows XP Professional with SP2 integrated via my University and the MSDN 'Academic Alliance' as I'm an eligible candidate. To my point, I always thought that the MSDN CD's of the Operating Systems were pretty much like the Manufacturer Royalty OEM CD's, that they required no activation. Great, I thought, the migration to Professional would be painless as there seems to be the OEMBIOS files.

However, when I installed with my key, the system asked me to re-activate, what a killjoy, although I can't complain as it cost me nothing and Professional is better.

So, although the OEMBIOS files are present, it needs activating, is there anything I might be doing wrong? Such as using a different key hidden in a different file or something? This was the case with my royalty XP Home, when I first got into creating unattended CDs, I used the CD key on the back of the computer and found I needed to activate, however, looking into the CD files, I found the WINNT.sif file had the manufacturer key, which allowed the pre-activated state upon XP install. Although, the MSDN CD does not have a WINNT.sif file!

So, how do I create a CD from the MSDNAA CD that will install pre-activated? Or am I wrong in my assumptions that the MSDN CD's allow OEM-style pre-activation?

I only ask as I would like to move to XP Professional but have got used to not activating after a format and reinstall!

All comments and suggestions would be very much appreciated, thanks.

AFAIK, all MSDNAA version of XP Pro requires activation. My copy requires activation as well and there is no effective way to circumvent that.

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