Unattended Activation: Copying wpa.dbl is not working, any ideas?

[DarkShadows]

What I tried

1. Started with a legal Windows XP Pro SP2 OEM license with Genuine COA (not Royalty OEM), brand new out of shrinkwrap.
   
2. Integrated an XPCD with all required hardware drivers for the target PC.
   
3. Integrated only a few updates—new Windows installer version, WGA and other related updates.
   
4. Installed XPCD on target PC, and inspected that all hardware was recognized and working properly.
   
5. Activated Windows on target PC sucessfully.
   
6. Copied wpa.dbl and wpa.bak from target PC and integrated them into the $OEM$\$$\System32 folder on XPCD.
   
7. Integrated all other updates, software applications, tweaks, etc., into XPCD.
   
8. Deleted Windows XP partition from Target PC and created a new empty one.
   
9. Installed fully-integrated XPCD on Target PC.
   

The Results

As GUI Mode Setup was finishing, just before first user login, the Windows Activation screen appeared and said "You must Activate Windows", which I did. After I activated, installation continued and executed all RunOnceEx items.

Questions

1. Does anyone have any ideas of where I went wrong?
   
2. Does wpa.dbl need to be copied after a reboot?
   
3. Are there registry settings I should also copy?
   
4. Might wpa.db_ on the XPCD be overwriting the wpa.dbl copied from $OEM$\$$\System32?
   
5. I know that the volume ID of the Windows XP partition is going to be different, but that is only one vote out of like ten. the rest should be the same shouldn't it?
   

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Edited November 2, 2007 by DarkShadows

[severach]

That has never worked for me but I only tried it after Service Pack 2. Other reports indicate that it doesn't work after service pack 2 either. You have three options.

If you have a brand name PC you can build a disk for it

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=63258

You can embed a legit Volume License Key, AKA Corporate Edition into a disk.

You can install and activate a system then Ghost it.

[Jadestar]

What I tried

1. Started with a legal Windows XP Pro SP2 OEM license with Genuine COA (not Royalty OEM), brand new out of shrinkwrap.
   
2. Integrated an XPCD with all required hardware drivers for the target PC.
   
3. Integrated only a few updates—new Windows installer version, WGA and other related updates.
   
4. Installed XPCD on target PC, and inspected that all hardware was recognized and working properly.
   
5. Activated Windows on target PC sucessfully.
   
6. Copied wpa.dbl and wpa.bak from target PC and integrated them into the $OEM$\$$\System32 folder on XPCD.
   
7. Integrated all other updates, software applications, tweaks, etc., into XPCD.
   
8. Deleted Windows XP partition from Target PC and created a new empty one.
   
9. Installed fully-integrated XPCD on Target PC.
   

The Results

As GUI Mode Setup was finishing, just before first user login, the Windows Activation screen appeared and said "You must Activate Windows", which I did. After I activated, installation continued and executed all RunOnceEx items.

Questions

1. Does anyone have any ideas of where I went wrong?
   
2. Does wpa.dbl need to be copied after a reboot?
   
3. Are there registry settings I should also copy?
   
4. Might wpa.db_ on the XPCD be overwriting the wpa.dbl copied from $OEM$\$$\System32?
   
5. I know that the volume ID of the Windows XP partition is going to be different, but that is only one vote out of like ten. the rest should be the same shouldn't it?
   

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

From what I've read using the wpl method ONLY works on a windows repair and will not work on a fresh install of xp...even on the same machine. Using it on a different machine is totally out of the question since the markers for if activiation is required will fail on everyone requiring activation since all the hardware is different aswell as the partitions.

[DarkShadows]

Thanks for the replies. I thought this might be the case, I just wanted to rule out that I wasn't doing something wrong.

Recently, I've had to call Microsoft because Activation over the Internet reports that I've installed my Windows XP Pro Retail License too many times (on exactly the same PC with exactly the same hardware). This is such a ridiculous and needless Microsoft policy. They keep a hash of all your hardware IDs, so they know it's the same PC. And it costs them (and me) time and money each time I have to call, only to get a new temporary code anyway. I can understand if If it were a new PC. But the exactly the same PC? What a complete waste.