sysprep limitation - activation

Hello guys,

We are about to move to Vista and before we do that I have been trying
to obtain information on how the activation with KMS works with an SOE
imaging environment.

There has been some discussion about images expiring or having to be
recreated after a 30 days or etc. This would seem rather unusual and
was after the definitive answer, as this is something we definately do
not want to do.

Can anyone explain how sysprep works in Vista (in relation to my above
question) or if there are any options required or recommended to be
applied when using Symantec Ghost to dump down an image.

Does Symantec Ghost work in exactly the same way as with Windows XP when
cloning machines. Any options that need to be applied or use a
particular version. We currently use version 7.5.

Thank You.

"sputnik" <sputnik@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:uoI0WwrpIHA.4888@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hello guys,
>
> We are about to move to Vista and before we do that I have been trying
> to obtain information on how the activation with KMS works with an SOE
> imaging environment.
>
> There has been some discussion about images expiring or having to be
> recreated after a 30 days or etc. This would seem rather unusual and
> was after the definitive answer, as this is something we definately do
> not want to do.
>
> Can anyone explain how sysprep works in Vista (in relation to my above
> question) or if there are any options required or recommended to be
> applied when using Symantec Ghost to dump down an image.
>
> Does Symantec Ghost work in exactly the same way as with Windows XP
> when cloning machines. Any options that need to be applied or use a
> particular version. We currently use version 7.5.
>

I don't know about the KMS / activation issue you are asking about, but
I may be able to help some with Ghost.

When we started deploying Vista, we had to migrate to Ghost 11 (this is
the corporate version of Ghost that comes with Symantec Ghost Solutions
Suite 2.0, not the consumer version of Ghost). I was able to get Ghost
8.3 to work with Vista by using the -IR (Image Raw) parameter, but
pulling / deploying the image took forever and the images were huge. If
that's not a problem for you, it might be worth a try to use -IR with
version 7.5 to see if it will work or not, otherwise you'll want to
upgrade.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Hello,

You need to run sysprep with the generalize option.

Resetting Windows Activation
When you install Windows with a single license product key, you have 30
days during which you must activate that installation of Windows. If you do
not activate Windows within the 30 day period and do not reset the
activation clock, Windows will enter RFM (Reduced Functionality Mode). This
mode prevents users from logging on to the computer until Windows is
activated. Note: with Windows Vista SP1(Windows Server 2008) RFM was
removed.

There is no limit to the number of times Sysprep can run on a computer.
However, the clock for Windows Product Activation begins its countdown the
first time Windows starts. You can use the sysprep /generalize command to
reset Windows Product Activation a maximum of three times. After the third
time you run the sysprep /generalize command, the clock can no longer be
reset.

When you run the sysprep /generalize command, the activation clock will
automatically reset. You can bypass resetting the activation clock by using
the SkipRearm setting in the Microsoft-Windows-Security-Licensing-SLC
component. This enables you to run Sysprep multiple times without resetting
the activation clock. For more information about this setting, see the
Unattended Windows Setup Reference.

Copied from:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window...-3049-4b8c-bcf
d-4e6dc5771ace1033.mspx?mfr=true

Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------
| >Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:06:52 +1000
| >From: sputnik <sputnik@gmail.com>
| >User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.12 (Windows/20080213)
| >MIME-Version: 1.0
| >Subject: sysprep limitation - activation
| >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
| >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
| >Message-ID: <uoI0WwrpIHA.4888@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl>
| >Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup
| >NNTP-Posting-Host: cust5074.vic01.dataco.com.au 202.164.197.210
| >Lines: 1
| >Path: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP01.phx.gbl!TK2MSF TNGP04.phx.gbl
| >Xref: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup: 38979
| >X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup
| >
| >Hello guys,
| >
| >We are about to move to Vista and before we do that I have been trying
| >to obtain information on how the activation with KMS works with an SOE
| >imaging environment.
| >
| >There has been some discussion about images expiring or having to be
| >recreated after a 30 days or etc. This would seem rather unusual and
| >was after the definitive answer, as this is something we definately do
| >not want to do.
| >
| >Can anyone explain how sysprep works in Vista (in relation to my above
| >question) or if there are any options required or recommended to be
| >applied when using Symantec Ghost to dump down an image.
| >
| >Does Symantec Ghost work in exactly the same way as with Windows XP when
| >cloning machines. Any options that need to be applied or use a
| >particular version. We currently use version 7.5.
| >
| >Thank You.
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >

In addition to what Darrell says,
- when you build the image from volume media, you either don't need to enter
a key at all, or you enter the generic KMS client key
- activation to the KMS server is automatic and immediate
- this applies to your base image, and to your deployed images
- if an image is out-of-time for any reason, it will request activation from
the KMS provided it has the right volume license key.
So I believe the issue you are describing with expired images applies to
OEM, Retail and MAK keys, but not in practice to KMS keys, provided they can
reach the KMS server.
Anthony
http://www.airdesk.co.uk


-
""Darrell Gorter[MSFT]"" <Darrellg@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5v7pYmwpIHA.1784@TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl...
> Hello,
>
> You need to run sysprep with the generalize option.
>
> Resetting Windows Activation
> When you install Windows with a single license product key, you have 30
> days during which you must activate that installation of Windows. If you
> do
> not activate Windows within the 30 day period and do not reset the
> activation clock, Windows will enter RFM (Reduced Functionality Mode).
> This
> mode prevents users from logging on to the computer until Windows is
> activated. Note: with Windows Vista SP1(Windows Server 2008) RFM was
> removed.
>
> There is no limit to the number of times Sysprep can run on a computer.
> However, the clock for Windows Product Activation begins its countdown the
> first time Windows starts. You can use the sysprep /generalize command to
> reset Windows Product Activation a maximum of three times. After the third
> time you run the sysprep /generalize command, the clock can no longer be
> reset.
>
> When you run the sysprep /generalize command, the activation clock will
> automatically reset. You can bypass resetting the activation clock by
> using
> the SkipRearm setting in the Microsoft-Windows-Security-Licensing-SLC
> component. This enables you to run Sysprep multiple times without
> resetting
> the activation clock. For more information about this setting, see the
> Unattended Windows Setup Reference.
>
> Copied from:
> http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window...-3049-4b8c-bcf
> d-4e6dc5771ace1033.mspx?mfr=true
>
> Thanks,
> Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
> --------------------
> | >Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:06:52 +1000
> | >From: sputnik <sputnik@gmail.com>
> | >User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.12 (Windows/20080213)
> | >MIME-Version: 1.0
> | >Subject: sysprep limitation - activation
> | >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> | >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> | >Message-ID: <uoI0WwrpIHA.4888@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl>
> | >Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup
> | >NNTP-Posting-Host: cust5074.vic01.dataco.com.au 202.164.197.210
> | >Lines: 1
> | >Path: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP01.phx.gbl!TK2MSF TNGP04.phx.gbl
> | >Xref: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup: 38979
> | >X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup
> | >
> | >Hello guys,
> | >
> | >We are about to move to Vista and before we do that I have been trying
> | >to obtain information on how the activation with KMS works with an SOE
> | >imaging environment.
> | >
> | >There has been some discussion about images expiring or having to be
> | >recreated after a 30 days or etc. This would seem rather unusual and
> | >was after the definitive answer, as this is something we definately do
> | >not want to do.
> | >
> | >Can anyone explain how sysprep works in Vista (in relation to my above
> | >question) or if there are any options required or recommended to be
> | >applied when using Symantec Ghost to dump down an image.
> | >
> | >Does Symantec Ghost work in exactly the same way as with Windows XP
> when
> | >cloning machines. Any options that need to be applied or use a
> | >particular version. We currently use version 7.5.
> | >
> | >Thank You.
> | >
> | >
> | >
> | >
> | >
>