ChangeVLKey

[Pat Furr]

Gary,  I can’t send you the zip file as the security settings block it.  So I will tell you how to create the file yourself.

From the Microsoft website, we downloaded the instructions to create a script file.  You can copy this script to a file using Notepad and save it under the filename: ChangeVLKey.vbs

'

' WMI Script - ChangeVLKey.vbs

'

' This script changes the product key on the computer

'

'***************************************************************************

 

ON ERROR RESUME NEXT

 

 

if Wscript.arguments.count<1 then

   Wscript.echo "Script can't run without VolumeProductKey argument"

   Wscript.echo "Correct usage: Cscript ChangeVLKey.vbs ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PRSTU-WYQZX"

   Wscript.quit

end if

 

Dim VOL_PROD_KEY

VOL_PROD_KEY = Wscript.arguments.Item(0)

VOL_PROD_KEY = Replace(VOL_PROD_KEY,"-","") 'remove hyphens if any

 

for each Obj in GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}").InstancesOf ("win32_WindowsProductActivation")

 

   result = Obj.SetProductKey (VOL_PROD_KEY)

 

   if err <> 0 then

      WScript.Echo Err.Description, "0x" & Hex(Err.Number)

      Err.Clear

   end if

 

Next

                              

 

Create a text file using Notepad and list the command:

a:\ChangeVLKey.vbs kqpvj-xj9pj-7rg8j-dymg6-xpf7b.

 

This assumes that you are using a floppy drive. All MARS are using the same Windows Product Key Code so this should work fine for MAR licensees. Open the text file and copy the command so that when you remove the Windows activation for the computer you go to Start – Run – and paste the command rather than typing it in.  Run the command – nothing will be apparent until you reboot and are asked to activate Windows.

 

This is a very handy tool.  Please don’t hesitate to ask for additional information.

 

Pat Furr

 

[Brian]

Hi Pat,

I'm having some trouble getting the script to work. What am I doing
wrong??!

1) Copy and paste into a Notepad file, and save on a flashdrive as
"ChangeVLKey.vbs".
2) Navigate to "Run", then enter: E:\ChangeVLKey.vbs kqpvj-xj9pj-7rg8j-
dymg6-xpf7b.

I am getting a Windows Script Host error message, saying that the
first line and first character are invalid. Code 800A0408.

Do I need to modify the script before saving it???

So sorry to bother you - any insight would be highly appreciated. I
am finished making my perfect machine, just need to "deactivate" it in
preparation for image development.

Thanks, Brian

[Angela Haas]

I am being told that if we are only installing it on one drive we have to only pay for one liscense,
How about clonezilla? is that a better choice?
Anyone have any luck with that?

[Sean Dion]

But you are cloning that same Ghost image to multiple drives... Aren't you?
Sean Dion
TKO Electronics, inc.
PH 818 879 2233
FX 818 879 2299

(From my Blackberry)

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[Don Singleton]

But the ghost program is not installed on those drives, only on the master drive. If you buy a machine to make donuts, you don't have to buy it again for each donut

[ah...@witsinc.org]

That's what I thought. So original question anyone have one already made for those we can use. Ill pay for it. We are on dec 19th deadline.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

---

From: "Don Singleton" <d...@helpingtulsa.org>

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:52:21 -0600

To: <refurb...@googlegroups.com>

[Sean Dion]

Read the licensing.

Each drive you clone using Ghost has a little Ghost remnant on it.  That is your one copy.

I know someone who had to buy 5000 licenses.  I think they were about $7ea if memory serves.

Sean Dion
TKO Electronics, Inc.
31113 Via Colinas
Westlake Village, CA 91362
PH: 818-879-2233 FX: 818-879-2299
sd...@tkoelectronics.com
AIM: TKOSeanD

[NextStep]

That’s how our staff reads the license too. If I remember correctly, we even had a conversation with Symantec (they are local here) a few years back and asked this question. Were told that one license of Ghost is for “one box at a time, little lady”.
We do a network install - can do 23 Windows installs at a time. Lot less probs with cloning issues. Dump the OS and all the other software at one time, take the machines to the finish bench where we do the last of the driver and Windows updates, final hardware test run through, barcode it and it is good to go.
Cloning seemed to always cause hiccups and problems.
lorraine

---

From: Sean Dion <sd...@tkoelectronics.com>
Reply-To: <refurb...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:28:42 -0800
To: <refurb...@googlegroups.com>, <refurb...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: [Refurbishers List] Help, Need Ghost

[Jim Ray]

We use nLite to create installation boot CD with patches and drivers. CDs are the cost of a postage stamp. Let each PC build its own operating system concurrently and do network install of applications to get a good production rate comparable to Ghost without the cost or dissimilar hardware headache.

 

Regards,

Jim Ray, President
Neuse River Networks tel: 919-838-1672 x111 cell: 919-606-1772

Web: http://www.neuserivernetworks.com Blog: http://www.internetcongregation.org Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/neuse Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/neuseriver Twitter: http://twitter.com/neuse Hellotxt: http://hellotxt.com/user/neuse Plaxo: http://neuse.myplaxo.com Myspace: http://myspace.com/neuseriver

 

Customer Service/Support: Call hotline at 919-838-1672 x117, send email to sup...@neuserivernetworks.com or visit http://www.neuserivernetworks.com/support

[ah...@witsinc.org]

Haven't heart about clonezilla. Any good worth using etc?

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

---

From: "Sean Dion" <sd...@tkoelectronics.com>

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:28:42 -0800

To: <refurb...@googlegroups.com>; <refurb...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: RE: [Refurbishers List] Help, Need Ghost

[Don Singleton]

The ghost we used to use made us feed a code in each time to make it awkward to use in a production environment, but there was also a more expensive version that did not require the code. It is my understanding that manufacturers like Dell use it for the machines they manufacture. I don't have the license available since we now use the self install puppy linuxes I suggested when Angela asked, but I would think we need to go to an open source drive cloning machine if ghost does have that restriction.

 

Where is the little Ghost remnant.  There is no reason for it to be there unless to justify the $7 charge, because Ghost is just writing the image that it made when it was originally presented with a disk to make a GHO file from.  I can see if I had a GHO file that Angela wanted for a Dell GX60, 260 and 240 it might have had a piece of Ghost in it, but not a Dell cloned from the disk

 

As Angela said, what about Clonezilla or something else

 

 

 

 

[Pat Furr]

Hi Angela,

We have been using Clonezilla for over a year and really like it. We
set up a 32 station lab and can multi-cast all 32 at one time although
we normally do 8 at a time. Since it is Linux based there are not
license issues. It is actually much more stable than Ghost for
Multi-Casting. We also use it with Sysprep so we can download all of
our updated OS, programs, drivers, etc. I presented at the NCRS
conference in Miami Beach. I can give you a step by step method of
setting it up but I wouldn't want to do it under the pressure of a
deadline unless you have access to a Linux person to walk you through
it. You can download Clonezilla Live that runs from a CD. You can
upload your completed image to an external USB drive and then download
them quickly to your other computers.
If you want further information, let me know. No FEES and no future
liabilities for using licensed software improperly.
Pat Furr
Computers for Classrooms

-----Original Message-----
From: Angela Haas [mailto:ah...@witsinc.org]
Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:02 PM
To: refurb...@googlegroups.com; refurbishers
Subject: [Refurbishers List] Help, Need Ghost

[Pat Furr]

Brian,

Did you download the script file "ChangeVLKey.vbs" from Microsoft? You
need to copy the file to the flash drive. The rest of the command looks
correct. We also insert a notepad text file on the flash drive with the
entire command so that we can just copy and paste to the Run command.

I can send you the link if you need it. It really works great.

Pat Furr

[Sean Dion]

Sounds like I am the only person that knows of the Ghost restriction/legality.

I will see if I can dig up the old notes, contact info, etc for those that want to start using it legally.

                Subject: [Refurbishers List] Help, Need Ghost
              
                I am being told that if we are only installing it on one drive we have to only pay for one liscense,
                How about clonezilla? is that a better choice?
                Anyone have any luck with that?
              

[ah...@witsinc.org]

Well if its 7each I'd rather use opensource versions my techs would be much happier. How long does oit cost to create an image with puppy linux or clonezilla for the dell???

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

---

From: "Sean Dion" <sd...@tkoelectronics.com>

Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:37:49 -0800

[Don Singleton]

Puppy Linux it is free    http://helpingtulsa.org/images/puppy.htm  has a bunch of screen shots and PDFs of what is in them, then there is an ISO one of my volunteers made. Right click on it and Save Target As, or Save Link As (depending on whether you are using IE or Firefox) and then use a CD burning program that can handle an ISO. Set computer to boot from CD, and boot with cd in machine. It will pause a few times, just press enter.  It will load the image rinning from cd. tell it to shutdown and it will want to create a puppy save file. Let it, and next time you can boot without the CD

 

I dont know clonezilla

[Ryan McDowell]

Hi,

At our organization we have used clonezilla exclusively for over 2
years now and would highly recommend it to everyone. One note though.
It is different than other cloning solutions. It will require a little
of your time to get used to the many advanced feature that are
available in it. For example, in our organization I have customized
clonezilla live to be netbootable and completely hands off from start
of cloning to input of windows license key. We use one master image
that is automatically adjusted for the client machines specific hal
during cloning and includes all drivers needed for about 80(or more)
different hardware setups. We really have 2 images. One for OpenOffice
and one for MS Office but both are forked from the single master that
I update once a week to ensure freshness. Granted this particular
setup has evolve over time through many changes but you get the idea
of what clonezilla can do.

On a side note. We are nearly free of any disk needs to complete
cloning, HW testing, and BIOS upgrades. On a rare occasion that a
machine is incapable of netbooting. We have a disc(CD) to fix that.
Really, the only time we use a floppy or cd is to make sure that drive
function correctly before completing our refurbishment process.

I hope this answers you question and reinforces the power that hides
in clonezilla if you spend the time learning about it.

Take Care!
ry...@C3-colorado.org

[Brian]

Hi Pat,

I feel so silly - there must be a step I am missing here. I have
copied the script from Microsoft's website (http://
support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q328874), pasted into
a Notepad file, and then saved it as "ChangeVLKey.vbs" on my flash
drive. Plug in the flash drive, enter "E:\ChangeVLKey.vbs kqpvj-
xj9pj-7rg8j-
dymg6-xpf7b" into Run and hit "OK".

I immediately get a "Windows script Host" error, stating that Line 1
and character 1 are invalid, code 800A0408.

Can you send the link you mentioned?? I am so sorry to bother you
with something that should be so simple!

Take care, Brian

[Brian]

Hi Pat and others,

On further reflection - this makes absolutely no sense. I have
followed the directions exactly. On the MS Site (http://
support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q328874), it explains
how to edit the registry to "deactivate" Windows. Even this method
doesn't work!! I modify the registry data, then run the activation
wizard and it says "Windows is already activated".

So weird. Any input is much appreciated. Thanks again, Brian

[Pat Furr]

Brian,
I changed the file extension to .txt instead of .vbs. If you can get
this file okay, just rename it to .vbs. This is the exact file we run
to de-activate Windows. You type
ChangeVLKey.vbs followed by your product code.

OR cut and paste between the ====='s and save to the file
ChangeVLKey.vbs
=================================
'***********************************************************************
****

' WMI Script - ChangeVLKey.vbs
'
' This script changes the product key on the computer
'
'***********************************************************************
****

ON ERROR RESUME NEXT

if Wscript.arguments.count<1 then
Wscript.echo "Script can't run without VolumeProductKey argument"
Wscript.echo "Correct usage: Cscript ChangeVLKey.vbs
ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PRSTU-WYQZX"
Wscript.quit
end if

Dim VOL_PROD_KEY
VOL_PROD_KEY = Wscript.arguments.Item(0)
VOL_PROD_KEY = Replace(VOL_PROD_KEY,"-","") 'remove hyphens if any

Dim WshShell
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.RegDelete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents\OOBETimer" 'delete OOBETimer registry value

for each Obj in
GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}").InstancesOf
("win32_WindowsProductActivation")

result = Obj.SetProductKey (VOL_PROD_KEY)

if err <> 0 then
WScript.Echo Err.Description, "0x" & Hex(Err.Number)
Err.Clear
end if

Next

===================================

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian [mailto:brian-...@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 3:43 PM
To: refurbishers
Subject: [Refurbishers List] Re: ChangeVLKey

[Brian]

Hi Pat,

It worked!!! Thanks so much.

Happy Thanksgiving, Brian

[Charles McColm]

On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 2:08 AM, Ryan McDowell <rizzim...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It is different than other cloning solutions. It will require a little
> of your time to get used to the many advanced feature that are

First, thank you for your post Ryan. I looked into a number of Open
Source solutions and all the ones I looked at appeared to be overly
complicated for most of the volunteers. From what you've described it
seems like an ideal solution.

> of cloning to input of windows license key. We use one master image
> that is automatically adjusted for the client machines specific hal
> during cloning and includes all drivers needed for about 80(or more)
> different hardware setups. We really have 2 images. One for OpenOffice

We currently employ many images for different motherboards. We get a
lot of mixed whitebox equipment. Do you maintain a book that says put
this and this if you get an Asus P4B motherboard-based system, or does
it account for different hardware being in the whitebox systems?

Thanks again, this answers a lot of questions and I'll be looking into
the "one image to rule them all" again.

[Ryan Mc]

Hi Charles and others

Happy to here back from you.

Clonezilla in its stock form can be very scary to new users due to its
bottomless combination of options. When you figure out exactly what
combo you'll be using for everything you can pre assign that run pattern
and leave out the explanation to each person doing the work for you.

I'll give you some examples of what I mean in a future post.

In reference to single image for all. Shaping and forming a single image
can take time and effort to finally achieve your goal. First step is
read the documentation for sysprep. It will cover a decent percentage of
the information to get you going in the right direction. As far as hal
swapping that's a different story. Sysprep on its own is not smart
enough to do this. It does have hal swapping functions but does not
contain the logic to determine what hal it is running on. In my case I
use the power of linux to determine the correct hal and adjust the
sysprep config to make the final change on first boot of the new windows
install. There are other methods using vbs etc. but clonezilla is the
first step in our process and contain all that is needed to adjust
windows into a workable form. Baby steps first...A little time spent now
will pay huge later. Believe me I know. I came into this having to
maintain 3-4 images in some cases per hardware type. On average we have
10 to 15 hardware types. Talk about killing myself with image updates.

Here's a starting point checklist that should give you a good start.

Read these on line resources FIRST!! They cover this subject pretty
well. I'm adding my changes and 2 cents to what they have already
stated.

This Doc covers hal types for windows--some of these hals are not used
for common HW we touch these days. Disregard the MPS Hal it was only
used on very specialized hardware such as SGI P2 workstations...I have
one...very odd design. Almost no common parts with a normal P2 computer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283

This doc gives you a quick rundown of sysprep setup and use. Our method
is way different than this but good place to start. Download sysprep for
your SP of XP and read the sysprep manual. It covers the different
commands that can be used within your sysprep config file.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302577

This doc is the first part of a multipart series that covers sysprep
methods very well. Mr. David Remy has done a great job with this and a
must read for anyone serious about mass deployment of windows...in my
opinion. To find all of his posts use his search and put "sysprep". VERY
USEFUL!!

http://remyservices.wordpress.com/2007/09/28/sysprep-in-depth-part-1-adding-drivers-to-our-image-pc/

Here are first step ammendments to what these documents say...again
first steps. I could write a small book or have a class to try and cover
all the information I put together from many different sources both
windows and linux sides.

1) When creating your master image don't use real hardware. Use a
virtual machine. I use VirtualBox (great product and free). It has a
nice side effect of not emulating the memory management hardware in an
Intel of AMD specific way which is the first problem that occurs when
you try to create images that can work on both processor types. In the
virtual machine set it ACPI only. This is the base hal for most p3 and
p4 class machines. Hal will change up from here not down.

3 common Hal types for i686 (Intel P3 / AMD-k6 and up class machines)
1) ACPI/PIC baseline hal used in most P3's and P3/P4 Laptops
notes: some machines have switchable hals in the bios
example--Dell gx150, many HP's
2) IO-APIC/UP most common P4(single core) class hal
3) IO-APIC/MP used for Hyperthreading/Multi-core P4 and up
note: if your machine is HT/MC the other hals will only use one
processor/core the rest is wasted.

2) Create your master image on a harddisk(virtual) that is smaller then
the smallest harddisk you put into your final systems. I use 8 to 10 gig
for all of my images. If your windows install is properly updated and
cleaned it shouldn't take up more than 3.5 gig of space without add on
software. This will be your foundation image. You will copy this to a
new virtual HD and build you image for deployment.

3) Collect drivers for all the hardware you have. This may sound scary
but it really isn't. There are a number of tools that pull driver sets
from completed systems. You only want to pull drivers not included in
windows install disc. After you pull drivers from a few systems you'll
discover that a small set of drivers covers most H/W on the market. If
you have any systems that have higher end Nvidia graphics cards you will
need to install those after...These cards are more like computers on AGP
cards then graphics cards. They don't play well with sysprep.

4) Clonezilla has excellent documentation on automating it process on
there site and on the file system of clonezilla running. I personally
don't use clonezilla-server as they built it. I use clonezilla-live
netbooted with my own setup...I'll stop for now. I think I've given you
a lot to learn before we move on to clonezilla. Get your master image
right and everything else will be easier to deal with.

This all seems like a lot but really once it's done you only have to
maintain it. Big picture is way less work in the long run.

Hit me with questions. I know there will be many.

Ryan Mc.

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[Charles McColm]

Wow thanks Ryan, that's a great help!

> used on very specialized hardware such as SGI P2 workstations...I have

That P key is so close to the O key ;-) I have a SGI O2 sitting beside
my desk. I used to work a lot with Sun boxes and I traded a
Sparcstation 5 for this SGI O2.

[Ryan Mc]

I also have large collection of computers. I also own SGI O2, Many
sparcs, DEC Alpha's, Cobalt Raq2 and Qube2, 2 HP PA-RISC Visualize
Workstations, and a few ARM based devices. As you can guess I'm not a
wintel user by default.

Ryan Mc.