Unattended Asking for Serial Key

[Ctrl-X]

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

That doesn't work with Windows XP... Windows 2000 could be installed from volume license media without a key, but with Windows XP this is no longer possible.

[Takeshi]

All other information I found searching the Internet suggests that the ProductID setting was used in previous Windows versions.

ProductID was used for Win 2000.

Here.

That doesn't work with Windows XP... Windows 2000 could be installed from volume license media without a key, but with Windows XP this is no longer possible.

correct.

[FrankE9999]

If you have the retail version of XP it will still prompts you for the product key even though you have it in your winnt.sif file. You can change this by editing the setupp.ini file and changing the last three digits of the Pid to 270. You still need the product key in the winnt.sif file for this to work.

I think that 000 is the default value for the last three digits in the retail version.

[mazin]

To activate Windows XP using an unattended installation procedure, add the following information to the Unattend.txt file or the Winnt.sif answer file:

• In the Unattended section, type AutoActivate = Yes.

• Under the UserData section, type ProductID = yourProductID (your ProductID is located on the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) sticker).

Note Every Windows XP retail installation must have a unique Product ID for activation.

If the Internet connection is through a proxy server, specify the proxy settings in the Unattend.txt file or the Winnt.sif answer file:

• In the Unattended section, type ActivateProxy=Proxy.

• Type your computer's proxy settings in the Proxy section.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...unattended.mspx

[Ctrl-X]

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...unattended.mspx

And there's the ProductID option again! Thanks for the added confusion, Microsoft Unless it has something to do with activation: maybe you should use ProductID when activation is needed, and ProductKey when it isn't? I couldn't say myself; fortunately we have an Enterprise Agreement and volume license media over here.