It seems things are different with the x64 edition of the IBW iso. I cannot get it to show the OOBE at all and in fact it *never* gives you the opportunity to enter a key at all - you are basically told you have a 30 day trial and will have to reinstall at the end (the same screen that on x86 IBW allows you to enter a key - there is no box to do so on x64).<br>So if you want x64 to install with a key, you HAVE to use the Toolkit. You can't even sysprep /oobe (it will break entirely). Using the slmgr -ipk option will show as activated but you have the 20 minute reboots.<br><br>So... User beware, basically.
I didn't have that problem: This used the key for a 365 day grace period created with the 64-bit IBW DVD.
Don't know, there seems to be some difference from the 32-bit version. With exactly the same settings it will automatically start as a 30-day trial no matter what I do.
Is there a Autounattend.xml file present on the ISO? - like other windows 7 installtion media, or something that is telling setup to load the 3o day trail key, can you not change the setup filesm in this build??????
The OS will end up rebooting every 20 minutes because that's not how it works on WES7 (it also says it right on the page you linked).
Evaluation Images Cannot be Upgraded Standard 7 does not support in-place upgrades from one license type to another. It is recommended that you verify the product key type used in your image or answer file before you use it in production. Images and answer files must be re-created to upgrade the license. You cannot upgrade an image by changing the product key. Exactly as on the page you posted link to sebus
Well I had to resort to ICE in the end to get a key entered at all. This consisted of: Installing the OS with the config I wanted. Installing ICE for the x64 tools Reading out the device prq and packagelist. Building an x64 image in ICE using those. Tracking down how to enter the product key (why is that setting buried away?) Saving out the ISO. Reinstalling the entire OS from the new ISO with the key. "Convenient" Microsoft... (Still I have a CLI-based x64 7 that just runs BF2142 right now with no excess fat. So I sort of win. Lowest pings ever!)
The branding files are in %windir%\branding, if you want to change it. There's a leaked Volume:BA key for WES7 though, so replacing spp is not necessary (and I'm not sure if it's very reliable). BTW, from some quick testing on an evaluation image I had running that had its license changed, it seems that the reboots are enforced by wlms.exe, and disabling the WLMS service did stop it rebooting after 20 minutes. There still may be other checks somewhere else though, and since there's a valid key available, I'm not going to investigate further. Setting up a new image with a non-eval key is the clean way to do it.