Re: Best way to format and reinstall all OEM computers

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Jordan wrote:
We are a small company so we have no power to dictate Dell, HP or
our whitebox vendor to hold harware configs for us so we have to
get what we get at the time. I have been purchasing whiteboxes
for the past couple of years regularly so I have quite a few
configs.
The whitebox vendor has not been consistant on some of the
installs. They keep adding some of the optional software that
comes with the CD burners, video cards and network cards as well
as other junk like messengers, Trial AV protection, etc. This is
causing more that just a few annoyances for my trying to manage
with standard AD tools like Group Policies and such.

I have made up my mind that I want to blow away every image on
all the drives and just re-install Windows XP and deal with the
drivers on a case by case basis. What is the best tool to do
this to about 30 computer with slight differences in hardware?
(Yes the drive controller is one that is different across a lot
of the computers)
I would prefer something where I can either use the Boot ROM
capabilities of the NICs in the computers or even a floppy that
will boot to the network.

Michael D. Ober wrote
Purchase a Generic XP with a volume license key and use it. You
can use this key as many times as you have already purchased XP
(OEM or retail). You will still need to install drivers on each
machine, but this will eliminate all the garbage that OEMs seem to
think is required.

Jordan wrote:
MS does not let you do that. I know it seems too strict for MS to
not allow that but they don't want any VL or retail keys on OEM
boxes.

If you buy a VL, you can put it on any computer you desire. That's the
whole point.

It's usually the OEMs who have to sell their products with an OS on it -
although they make exceptions with server-level hardware.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Best way to format and reinstall all OEM computers
    ... our whitebox vendor to hold harware configs for us so we have to ... The whitebox vendor has not been consistant on some of the ... controller is one that is different across a lot of the computers) ... I would prefer something where I can either use the Boot ROM ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Best way to format and reinstall all OEM computers
    ... whitebox vendor to hold harware configs for us so we have to get what we get ... The whitebox vendor has not been consistant on some of the installs. ... I would prefer something where I can either use the Boot ROM capabilities of ... the NICs in the computers or even a floppy that will boot to the network. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)