I have followed all the steps under Beginner unattneded windows. I setup a virtual machine and started installing and when it got to the product key section is asked me for the key. I have already entered this it the answer file.

What did I do wrong?

Do you have the WinNT.sif file set up correctly? Here's an example:

[Branding]
  BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[Data]
  AutomaticUpdates=Yes
  AutoPartition=1
  MsDosInitiated=0
  UnattendedInstall=Yes

[Display]
  BitsPerPel=32
  Vrefresh=72
  Xresolution=1152
  Yresolution=864

[GuiRunOnce]
  %systemdrive%\AutoIt\RunOnce.exe

[GuiUnattended]
  AdminPassword=**********
  AutoLogon=Yes
  OEMSkipRegional=1
  OEMSkipWelcome=1
  TimeZone=20

[Identification]
  JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]
  InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Shell]
  DefaultStartPanelOff=Yes
  DefaultThemesOff=Yes

[TapiLocation]
  CountryCode=1
  Dialing=Tone
  AreaCode=319

[Unattended]
  DisableDynamicUpdates=No
  DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
  Hibernation=1
  OEMPreinstall=Yes
  OEMSkipEula=Yes
  Repartition=Yes
  TargetPath=\Windows
  UnattendMode=FullUnattended
  UnattendSwitch=Yes
  WaitForReboot=No

[UserData]
  ProductID=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
  FullName="John Doe"
  OrgName="Acme Corporation"
  ComputerName=ACME1

Hope this helps

Maybe you didn't use the correct key and media combination? Volume license media won't accept OEM keys and vice versa. When you enter the key manually, is it accepted? If it is, post your answer file so we can check it for errors.

When you enter the key manually, is it accepted?

Yes, this is the question.

Or, maybe, you used ProductKey= instead of ProductID=!

Here is what I have

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutoPartition=0

MsDosInitiated="0"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

AutomaticUpdates=yes

[unattended]

UnattendMode=FullUnattended

OemSkipEula=Yes

OemPreinstall=No

TargetPath=\WINDOWS

FileSystem=*

[GuiUnattended]

AdminPassword=*

EncryptedAdminPassword=NO

OEMSkipRegional=1

TimeZone=35

OemSkipWelcome=1

[userData]

ProductKey=*******************

FullName="*****"

OrgName="*****"

ComputerName=Office

[Display]

BitsPerPel=32

Xresolution=1280

YResolution=1024

Vrefresh=85

[RegionalSettings]

LanguageGroup=1

[identification]

JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]

InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

I just noticed that yes is in quotations. Maybe this a problem?

[userData]

ProductKey = "11111-22222-33333-44444-55555"

like that mine works..

Or, maybe, you used ProductKey= instead of ProductID=!

Hmmm, PaulIA's answer file also has a "ProductID" entry... Nothing about that in the reference I've always been using "ProductKey" without any problems. Could any of you explain where this entry comes from and what the difference is?

Edit: 100th post

Edited September 11, 200619 yr by Ctrl-X

I use ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

for WIN-XP without Service Pack and for WIN-XP with SP1.

I use ProductID=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

for WIN-XP with SP2.

Funny, "ProductKey" works fine with our WinXP SP2 source... Wouldn't be surprised if the two options were interchangeable.

That's funny. I never realized that I had ProductID and not ProductKey. I started out using a WinNT.sif file from somebody else and just never realized that it was there. The Ref.chm file says to use ProductKey, but ProductID seems to work fine too.

@mazin: Did you change yours to ProductID for a reason? Anywhere we can read up on this?

Thanks,

Paul

@mazin: Did you change yours to ProductID for a reason? Anywhere we can read up on this?

I'm used to reading before I apply/use anything that's new.

After Ctrl-X had posted his input, I just looked in my WINNT.SIF of the three copies of Windows I've got on my CDs. (XP, XPSP1A, XPSP2)

And, yes, what I said is correct in my case. I don't remember where I read this, however.

But I'll see and post back if I find it.

Ok, I just ran the answer wizard again and when I got to the save as part I went ahead and renamed it winnt.sif there. Ran it on VM and it works (except for I entered a wrong # for the product key so ill have to redo). Ok now that the basics work, what else is handy to add to all of this. I run Firefox so I'd like to add that and maybe Office and this and that lol. This is cool stuff!!!!

Well, this is all turning a bit academical, but just for giggles I downloaded the WinXP SP1 Deployment Tools and created a new answer file using the Setup Manager. It had a ProductKey entry; no reference to a ProductID setting in the accompanying Ref.chm. Unfortunately I can't get my hands on the RTM version of the Deployment Tools, so I can't check the entry in that version. I did find a reference though to what seems to be the original version: *click*. All other information I found searching the Internet suggests that the ProductID setting was used in previous Windows versions. They probably left it in for backwards compatibility.

Well!

I've done a research on Unattended Windows forum using ProductID as a keyword.

I've got 15 pages, 25 topics each. Most of these topics appeared in the search results

just because someone posted their WINNT.SIf in a topic.

This shows a fact that many people are using ProductID not ProductKey. B)

Oh well, I've got some fun, too.

Here, RyanVM says exactly the opposite to what I said. And it works!

elduderino, the topic starter, answered: "Thats weird, because the winnt.sif is

copied from a working unattended CD (SP2 slipstreamed)."

elduderino used ProductID!

--------------

Here, NickAtNight used the SP2 setupmgr.exe from the DEPLOY directory.

He/She created unattend.txt (WINNT.SIF) that has ProductID not ProductKey.

Funny! Mine (SP2 setupmgr.exe) does create ProductKey not ProductID.

--------------

Here, both ProductKey and ProductID fail with jbond_13.

His/Her key works if entered manually, though!

--------------

I still don't remember where I got "ProductID" from!

But I recall that MS said that ProductID is used in WINNT.SIF if AutoActivate is set to YES.

Edited September 11, 200619 yr by mazin

How can I install Windows 2000 without supplying the CD key?

Also add the

[userData]

ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx