AutoUnattend.xml without productkey prompt

[trainee]

So I just wanted to confirm this since it was difficult for me to find a specific answer on the forum...

If you do NOT want to be prompted for a productkey during unattended vista install you MUST include a productkey for the version of vista you are installing in the AutoUnattend.xml. There is no way to get around this. As long as you specify the key during the Windows-PE step it will be used for the install and purged afterward.

If you are a simple enduser this makes it difficult to distribute unattended setups to friends/family because (hypothetically) they could extract your key. Of course in all likelihood you wouldn't be giving them an unattended setup if they were at all computer savvy, but still the possibility exists.

Please post confirmation if you agree with this assessment, or a counter-example if you have gotten unattended to work without a key in the AutoUnattend.xml and without a prompt for the key. If you are searching far and wide for the answer to this, hopefully you found this post sooner rather than later.

[Tripredacus]

I do not agree with the idea of distributing unattended install discs to friends and family.

You have an alternate method. you could put the Autounattend.xml on a floppy disk. And leave the key field blank. Tell your friend that they must type in their key into the file. Then when you install Vista, make sure to have the floppy disk in the drive. This way you only would be giving people your XML sample, which happens online all the time.

[trainee]

I definitely agree there are copyright and licensing concerns with distributing install discs. It is at most illegal and at least a gray area. There are certainly other options, but when I found my grandparents had bought vista only to never install it because they couldnt figure out how, I sent them an unattended dvd and some very detailed instructions on how to change the boot order of their bios. Since then other family members have asked for similar dvds. Since very few machines have floppys these days I am not sure that would work, but can a usb stick drive work instead? I would prefer to not ask for serials from them (for the same reason I don't want to distribute my own serials). But its probably not too much to ask them to enter it earlier. Given Microsoft's activation policy I usually advise people to not put their serials in until they are confident everything is working correctly, so as to not accidentally activate a non-working machine.

I do not condone pirating of software in any way, and didn't think much of it when I originally made this post. Please remove the thread if it is counter to the interests of MSFN.

[Tripredacus]

Yes a USB key should work also. The Vista PE should automatically detect them, but best if they are plugged in after the PE loads or else they will appear as the C Drive. If you had a USB floppy drive this would also work. That is what we use for those cases.