Building a Pre-activated CD from an existing installation

[mittern8]

BTW the OEMBIOS files for MCE2005, TabletPC2005, and Pro are interchangable ...

Sorry for this, maybe, stupid question - but to avoid misunderstanding:

Do I get you right?

As long as I have the oembios files and the corresponding product key from the registry I can use them to create a pre-activated installation CD of any version of WIN XP, including Home, MCE2005, TabletPC2005 and Pro?

And what do you mean with

... the product keys are interchangable between brands.

I don't get this.

Thought the product key of a pre-activated installation has to fit to the oembios files which on the other hand fits to a special manufacturer?

[Bezalel]

BTW the OEMBIOS files for MCE2005, TabletPC2005, and Pro are interchangable ...

Sorry for this, maybe, stupid question - but to avoid misunderstanding:

Do I get you right?

As long as I have the oembios files and the corresponding product key from the registry I can use them to create a pre-activated installation CD of any version of WIN XP, including Home, MCE2005, TabletPC2005 and Pro?

And what do you mean with

... the product keys are interchangable between brands.

I don't get this.

Thought the product key of a pre-activated installation has to fit to the oembios files which on the other hand fits to a special manufacturer?

MCE and TabletPC are based on Pro so they use the same OEMBIOS files. (I have used OEMBIOS files extracted from a Dell Pro with a Product key extracted from a HP MCE to create a Dell MCE CD set.) I'm not sure if the files can be interchanged between Home and Pro.

The Product Key is tied to the edition of windows being installed. In my multi manufacturer CD (not finished yet), I do not change the product key for each manufacturer.

[waves]

Bezalel,

In your multi-manufacturer cd, you do not change the product key for each manufacturer. Does this mean you can have one slipstream cd that will work across all pc manufacturers? How will it be activated?

[Bezalel]

Bezalel,

In your multi-manufacturer cd, you do not change the product key for each manufacturer. Does this mean you can have one slipstream cd that will work across all pc manufacturers? How will it be activated?

Information on my multi-manufacturer CD can be found here http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=71016

[tcsdoc]

I have an Emachines laptop. I'm one of those without a real Windows CD. I copied the i386 folder and used your programs (verified by Magic Jelly Bean) to get the OEM files and the actual cd key. I slipstreamed SP2 and the latest hotfixes into my unattended install (including the cdkey in the winnt.sif).

Installation is without errors but I have to activate. When I install from my ghost images I don't have to activate. My sticker has EMachines on the CDKey sticker so I assuming it's a ROYAL (??) OEM.

Am I missing something?

Edit: Man, I can't believe I forgot to replace the cdkey taken from the registry into the winnt.sif. I reloaded the system with the correct cdkey and it worked great. Thanks for all the info!!

Edited May 24, 2006 by tcsdoc

[waves]

If you do it the way tscdoc did, and enter the product key from the pc sticker instead of the key in the registry, do you still have to call, or will it activate over the net? Also, will the registry product key work on all emachines pc's, or just his?

Edited May 24, 2006 by waves

[Bezalel]

If you do it the way tscdoc did, and enter the product key from the pc sticker instead of the key in the registry, do you still have to call, or will it activate over the net? Also, will the registry product key work on all emachines pc's, or just his?

If you use the key from the Registry (or the key in your Dell CD) you will not have to activate it at all. If you use the key from the sticker you will have to activate by phone. The CD Key is not tied to any manufacturer, the OEMBIOS files are.

You are focusing too much on the key when you should be focusing on the OEMBIOS files. The key isn't the problem, it's just the symptom. Here is a timeline of what happens on startup when you use your Dell CD on a Dell and a Non-Dell.

Dell:

WPA creates a hardware inventory and saves it as WPA.DBL

Using the OEMBIOS files WPA checks that the PC is manufactured by Dell

Verification passes - Have a nice day

Non-Dell: (System Builder - Not yet activated)

WPA creates a hardware inventory and saves it as WPA.DBL

Using the OEMBIOS files WPA checks that the PC is manufactured by Dell and is using a factory key.

Verification fails - proceed to next step

WPA.DBL is compared to WPA.BAK to determine how much hadware has changed

Verification fails (WPA.BAK doesn't exist) - proceed to next step

User is prompted to activate

User attempts to activate online

Activation fails (factory keys can't activate) - User is informed that the key must be changed

User enters key on sticker

User attempts to activate online

Activation is sucsessful - WPA.DBL is signed and copied as WPA.BAK - Have a nice day

Non-Dell: (Royalty OEM - Not yet activated)

WPA creates a hardware inventory and saves it as WPA.DBL

Using the OEMBIOS files WPA checks that the PC is manufactured by Dell and is using a factory key.

Verification fails - proceed to next step

WPA.DBL is compared to WPA.BAK to determine how much hadware has changed

Verification fails (WPA.BAK doesn't exist) - proceed to next step

User is prompted to activate

User attempts to activate online

Activation fails (factory keys can't activate) - User is informed that the key must be changed

User enters key on sticker

User attempts to activate online

Activation fails (Royalty OEM keys can't activate online) - User is informed that they must activate by phone

User attempts to activate by phone

Activation is sucsessful - WPA.DBL is signed and copied as WPA.BAK - Have a nice day

Non-Dell: (already activated)

WPA creates a hardware inventory and saves it as WPA.DBL

Using the OEMBIOS files WPA checks that the PC is manufactured by Dell and is using a factory key.

Verification fails - proceed to next step

WPA.DBL is compared to WPA.BAK to determine how much hadware has changed

Verification passes - Have a nice day

There are more steps involved that I am aware of (and probably many more that I am not aware of) but these show a comparison between different types of systems

[waves]

ok, so does this mean that there is no way to use my slipstream copy of windows on any other pc but my own without having to activate, or get the oembios files from the pc first? You mention that if I use the key from the registry or the key in my dell cd I won't have to activate, but I am guessing that this is only for a dell pc, right?

[bober]

i wish i had read this thread several days ago. a friend messed up his HP oem installation and had to reinstall it. the "rescue" partion would not work so he bought another xp home cd.

having the original "install" key might have saved him all the hassle of online activation.

[Batfinks]

sorry had net problems for awhile and had to have new line put in so i couldn't reply...

my original post was:

*****************************************************************************

i have a little problem and wonder if this method could help,

i have a HP LS1200 MCE system which went bang due to my kids and putting/spilling a drink on it

as my system is dead and out of warrenty i was wondering could i use a method like this to use my recovery disk on another machine as i like MCE2005 ?

i know the hardware would be different but is it possible as i own the software could i bastardise it to use on another machine ?

if it is possible could someone explain in plain laymens terms how im not too clued up on this sort of thing

***********************************************************************************

right i do have a i386 folder on recovery disk (cdr) and i can see all the files inside it and the i386 folder is 743mb

am hopeing i can still use it on another system so its not a complete loss

Edited May 28, 2006 by Batfinks

[Bezalel]

if it is possible could someone explain in plain laymens terms how im not too clued up on this sort of thing

Unfortunately the problems you are having are completely unrelated to the topic of this thread.

[Batfinks]

oops sorry is there a topic which covers this?

as i've already mentioned im not clued up on this in anyway at all

and any help would be great thankyou.

[bober]

thanks Bezalel.

your technique works great on hp home.

[herroyuy]

sorry... simple question

after i get files using the batch file.... i just need to replace the 5 files i got into the xp home cd and then install? that will make my clean installation preactivated?

[chickenfeed]

If your laptop was mande by a Royalty OEM (the COA sticker hase manufacturer's name or logo) and you also have access to the Windows intallation bits (hologrammed OEM CD) you can use these files to recreate the OEMBIOS files and extract the CD-Key origionally used by the manufacturer to install windows. A Windows CD made with these files will not require activation when used on the computer the files were extracted from (or other computers of the same make).

Simple out of the box question;

- I have a royalty OEM installed on my hp laptop (it has "HP" in the COA).

- I don't have any HP windows installation cd back-up copy

- I downloaded a OEM version (same home version) from the net.

- extracted the bulk license from winnt.sif of the current laptop's product key (different from COA)

- Can I use that with the OEM installer that I downloaded from the net? Do I still have to activate it? (the tutorial on the first page had me into a dead end when it showed some kind of vbscript...)

thanks