Hey, this forum seems to have a lot of info on this topic, but no actual stickies explaining things for those of us who are clueless. Basically my problem is I need to format an old HP desktop that shipped with XP Home, and I don't have access to the original system discs. Of course HP wants to charge like $20 for a replacement (and more for the tech support call if you're not careful) so I figure if it's possible to circumvent this using a non-HP XP Home disk, I'm all for it. So after browsing around this forum, I was able to use a program called OEMBIOS.exe on the computer in question to see some CRC numbers or something, and then I went and downloaded some OEMBIOS files from one of the sticky topics here that matched the "hp & compaq" entry (in the oembios.exe output). Apparently these should go in the "i386" directory of my new image. So far so good. However, from reading around it isn't totally clear but I suspect there is more to it than this (also, all the instructions are for XP Pro, which isn't an option here), so can anyone tell me what I need to do? Also, I have the following XP Home SP3 discs available to modify: Retail XP Home SP3 Dell XP Home SP3 OEM Which would be the better starting point? Thanks for any info.
I would use the dell xp cd just delete the $OEM$ folder and change the serial number in the winnt.sif file in i386 folder.
Copy this data and create 2 files, it will collect all the files u need then copy intoyour dvd and you are off! getfiles.bat CODE attrib -s %SystemRoot%\system32\CatRoot\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\OEMBIOS.CAT makecab %SystemRoot%\system32\CatRoot\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\OEMBIOS.CAT attrib +s %SystemRoot%\system32\CatRoot\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\OEMBIOS.CAT makecab %SystemRoot%\system32\OEMBIOS.BIN makecab %SystemRoot%\system32\OEMBIOS.DAT makecab %SystemRoot%\system32\OEMBIOS.SIG cscript //nologo getkey.vbs > winnt.sif getkey.vbs CODE Dim objFS, objShell Dim strXPKey Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") strXPKey = objShell.RegRead("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProductName") If Len(strXPKey) > 0 Then WScript.Echo "[UserData]" WScript.Echo "ProductKey=" & chr(34) & GetKey(objShell.RegRead("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId")) & chr(34) WScript.Echo "[Data]" WScript.Echo "MSDosInitiated=0" WScript.Echo "UnattendedInstall=Yes" End If Function GetKey(rpk) Const rpkOffset=52:i=28 szPossibleChars="BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789" Do dwAccumulator=0 : j=14 Do dwAccumulator=dwAccumulator*256 dwAccumulator=rpk(j+rpkOffset)+dwAccumulator rpk(j+rpkOffset)=(dwAccumulator\24) and 255 dwAccumulator=dwAccumulator Mod 24 j=j-1 Loop While j>=0 i=i-1 : szProductKey=mid(szPossibleChars,dwAccumulator+1,1)&szProductKey if (((29-i) Mod 6)=0) and (i<>-1) then i=i-1 : szProductKey="-"&szProductKey End If Loop While i>=0 GetKey=szProductKey End Function Getfiles.bat will generate 5 files to be placed in the i386 directory of your CD. the files are: OEMBIOS.BI_ OEMBIOS.CA_ OEMBIOS.DA_ OEMBIOS.SI_ winnt.sif
Um, I wasn't really worried about that part. I figured there must be a half-dozen free ways to make an ISO, and then the burning is no big deal.
yeah i found that using cdimage was the best for me, just update the bat code to match your dir and i would use the dell oem dvd not the retail one. hope that helps?
Yeah, but I'm still not clear on the bulleted list of what, exactly, needs to happen for the disc to work. You guys are very terse and vague.
Ok, let me try and help. 1. Copy your DVD to a new Dir lets call it C:\Dell 2. Create the getfiles. bat and the Getkey.vbs and run these on your pc 3. once you have the files you can copy these into the c:\Dell\i386 folder 4. Download cdimage and then unzip into a new folder say called c:\tools 5. copy the last batch and make the changes to match your 2 folders in 3 & 4 6. save it in your Tools dir and run - output will be iso. then just burn to dvd
Okay, thanks, if your scripts do everything necessary then I am probably good. The main problem is I know nothing about the architecture of Windows or how its licensing works, or if all these dell-specific files in my starting image will be a problem. I can run a script and make an image and stuff. Edit: that is, if the old installation will boot any more! the whole reason I'm formatting in the first place...
To start with you can't use the serial number grabbed from your machine with xp pro disk your serial number is for HP home edition so that wouldn't work. Also you used retail xp home that won't work either without editing the SETUPP.INI in i386 folder it is for retail so change it to OEM one replace with code below. Code: [Pid] ExtraData=786F687170637175716954806365EF Pid=76487OEM
That's what I thought, but a couple of posts in this thread seemed to indicate that it didn't matter, so I figured I'd try it. Also, thanks for answering the question I originally asked in the OP that it's been like pulling teeth to get clarified.
for what it's worth, if anyone else searches this thread; I tried to make an HP [desktop] oem cd. Followed most of the advice already listed, but the problem is the files you copy to the i386 folder, replacing those that already exist, will result in an xp pro cd. Even if you edit the setupp.ini to <76477OEM> . There must be something else in one of the other files that causes the installation to revert to xp pro. I tried a similar thing for an IBM disc and the same result occurred.
That is not possible you must have had an XP pro cd to start with the OEMBIOS files are the same for Pro an Home.
I, too, am trying to make an XP Home SP3 OEM disc. I have the Home RTM iso and the Dell OEMBIOS files. I've tried changing the [Pid] to the values listed above, and it claims that the Product Key is invalid. <edit: due to pidgin.dll> Should the PID be something different for HOME? I tried entering a Dell Pro key and it starts installing. I think I can find a dell pid from some old cds. I'll try that and report back. EDIT: I replaced the pidgen.dll with the one on my Home OEM disc so the keys would validate, and then I changed SETUPP.INI to: My Dell Home pidgen.dll (34b2a6b36c60d3d3bb909b999ae66f88) is different from my Dell Pro pidgen.dll (bc5726a119118d9ac12e2ada25e01b3c). With these changes, I can successfully install. However, I am also getting a "PRO" install, rather than a Home install. I'm using an RTM Home disc (checksum verified) and OEMBIOS files with my pidgen dll. I'm going to check the DPC.DL_, NT5INF.ca_, and SETUPREG.HIV and see if that's the reason it says PRO.
I took the DPCDLL.DL_, NT5INF.ca_, and the SETUPREG.HIV from my OEM Home disc and overwrote the ones that was in the original image. Windows now reports that it is a Home install. The files that are included with the OEMBIOS files, were for pro only. So you need to grab/keep these from the Home disc, otherwise it will report a "PRO" install.
Your whole problem here is the only files you should have copied over were, OEMBIOS.BI_ ,OEMBIOS.CA_ ,OEMBIOS.DA_ and OEMBIOS.SI_ files.