WDS Question regarding Activation of Windows 7

JohnnyBiggles

Ok, so I successfully captured and deployed several cuztomized Windows 7 images to the point where you boot, select which image to download and install, then the next thing you do is log in to your domain... with the exception of checking off "skip auto activate" and activate later, which is the problem, since it stops the overall remote, completely automatic nature of this process. How can I alter the Unattend XML or something in WAIK to allow skipping this entirely so all one has to do is log in and THEN activate at the earliest convenience (before it expires) using whatever method you would use (KMS server, or provided key, etc.) once the user/administrator is logged in later on? I tried a few things and even a generic Key for KMS/volume licensing, but the deployment still keeps stopping at the part where user intervention is necessary, which means someone still needs to be there at the PC during deployment before it can be used. It kind of defeats the purpose of the automated deployment process. Any suggestions, anyone?

hennrizzler

WDS and the unattend files are more for light touch installation where there usually is a technician at the machine to help guide the automated process with a few clicks here and there. You can use the MDT toolkit to further automate this to make it as light as you want and skip that part of the deployment with some edits to the configuration file (Deploying Windows 7 - Part 7: Automated LTI Deployment) and then let KMS deal with the activation once the installation has completed. For true zero touch where no one even needs to be at the machine, you'd need SCCM.

If it's just unattend.xml info you wanted, I think just entering in a valid MAK key would skip that part of the installation so you don't see it appear.

I hope this helps.