Help with Rapid Deployment/Imaging/Keys/Acivation please

sschmidlap

I am just trying to learn and set up a rapid deployment solution a la WDS in a virtual environment, but I have no idea how all this OEM, product key, activation stuff comes into play and works. I have an OEM license, product key. I install Vista Business in a virtual machine and activate it no problem with the OEM product key. I then sysprep and image the machine. That resets the activation clock so I have to reactivate any deployed images.
1) Is there a way to sysprep, image and deploy activated Vista and keep it that way so the newly deployed machine doesn't have to reactivate?

2) If that is not possible, why then does the following happen? I deploy the image on a new machine. It's not activated. I try to activate and it says the product key is not valid for activating, but I look (using product key finder) and see the product key on the new machine is the same as on the machine I activated and sysprepped.

Please help me understand all this and come up with an automated solution.

Faygo

1. only if you are using an authentication server and an open license rather then an oem license.
Doing it this way each computer will activate on the network. Then downside is that if they are off the network to long they will fail after a while.

2. not sure, normally you can only activate an oem license a number of times before you have to call them and explain what you are doing. it could be that.