Edit Retail License for Volume License

[bradgenung]

I have a bunch of new PC's at my office that we purchased from HP. I would like to be able to sysprep these drives with a master image to save a bunch of time. Now I have read you can and you can't regarding this.

The issue-

Sysprep conflicts with the VLK during the install process because the Master Image I created was built off of the retail preinstall that came with the HP system with the software additions that I needed to make.

One method that I have read says to run the install CD from my VLK version and do a repair install and it will allow me to use my VLK number and it will replace my retail key on the machine. That seems like the easiest thing I have read thus far, but would really like some feedback on this topic so I can have a clear understanding of the process and the best "confirmed" way to go about doing this.

I know MS is trying to avoid pirating of their software, but come on this is a NEED for IT people to have when the company does not use white boxes but mainstream vendors for their end user systems.

Edited June 2, 2009 by bradgenung

[cluberti]

Yes, but Microsoft does not support replacing OEM images unless you're the OEM. If you're going to be doing this regularly, you should be able to get VLK media from Microsoft in a license agreement that allows you to have your own media and keys, and that is the supported way. Otherwise, you can try using your HP installation media to create a new installation, and I know this has been discussed in the Unattended section of the forums.

[bradgenung]

I do understand that. We own all of our licenses as we should, but for ease of deployment of new boxes with the applications we use I like to just build one master image for each box configuration we purchase. Over the last 5 years we have bought 4 HP models in our yearly system upgrades to previous boxes. In past years I have built the boxes from the ground up with our VLK CD for installation creating my own image. Trying to save a little bit of time and not having to go driver hunting I wanted to utilize the HP installation and just modified it to become my base image for this box model. If there is not a way around it I will just rebuild the box with our VLK version of XP and reinstall all of my apps and drivers for the systems hardware. It just seems to me that this is a case where they are removing their nose to spite their face. People do need to image master drives so they can roll out boxes more efficiently within their offices and make sure they own the proper number of licenses when they do so.

Edited June 3, 2009 by bradgenung

[cluberti]

There is a fix for this, but unfortunately it's Vista (this would have worked fine with Vista).

[bradgenung]

OK... so XP will not allow this change to the best of your knowledge. And the method I mentioned by doing a repair install with a VLK CD will not allow me to change my shipped retail key on the box to a VLK so I can sysprep it and deploy. Correct?

And thank you for the information on this!