Hey all, I just wrangled myself a real copy of the latest Windows XP OEM Preinstallation Kit, and just wanted to know if I could do anything cool with it. From the looks, its bootable to WinPE, plus when you stick it in an up and running system you have the option to install "OPK Tools".

So... is any of this stuff actually useful?

Thanks.

Well it depends on what you do. If you're an OEM and you want to bundle some software (read: malware) with your system, then this software is a dream come true !

Well... I want an unattended DVD with RyanVM's updatepacks + some addon packs, the BTS DriverPacks, and some other software installed as well as setting some system settings and OEM branding eg. in "System Properties" and the IE title bar. And yes I'm an OEM.

Is it going to be any use to me?

Thanks.

if you make an unattended dvd, winpe can't do anything for you ... other tools on the cd can help you to create winnt.sif fully.

WinPE is good to have but not that important. The documantation is OK but I prefer the documentation that comes with Windows 2000. (The 2000 docs come in DOC format and the XP docs come in CHM format.)

We have access to the OPK as a system builder, but we don't use it. I just use the setup manager in the deploy.cab file on the OEM CDs. I prefer a true CD-based preinstall method over the network-based preinstall. A little harder to update, true. But with the way our network is setup, it works out better for us.