Is there a way of clearing a registry entry in Win2K that will make it
forget it's product key? I want to install Win2K on a military laptop
with my company's custom application(s). Once it is all configured, I
want to reset the product key. At this point I can make an image of
the drive which I can put on some CD's and use with EasyRestore to
deploy to the military laptops that we ship. The manufacturer of the
laptop is already doing this with their software and I wanted to remake
their "System Recovery Disk" so it includes my company's software too.
I have Drive Image and EasyRestore but I need a way to get Win2K to go
through it's EULA Agreement panel and the Product Key entry
(essentially finishing Win2K setup) after the image has been put on the
laptop's drive and the laptop is reset and wakes up in Win2K the first
time. I have a legal copy of Win2K for each laptop so that is not a
problem. I only am trying to (effectively) add our software to the
manufacturer's Recovery disk(s) so we can ship the new "System Recovery
Disk(s)" instead. Thanks for any help anyone can provide. Also I
would like the same information for WinXP since the manufacturer is
changing over from Win2K to WinXP in October. Hard to believe that
they are just now changing to WinXP, no?
-- Don Ramsey

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry hoozy wrote:

> Is there a way of clearing a registry entry in Win2K that will
> make it forget it's product key? I want to install Win2K on a
> military laptop with my company's custom application(s). Once
> it is all configured, I want to reset the product key. At this
> point I can make an image of the drive which I can put on some
> CD's and use with EasyRestore to deploy to the military laptops
> that we ship. The manufacturer of the laptop is already doing
> this with their software and I wanted to remake their "System
> Recovery Disk" so it includes my company's software too. I have
> Drive Image and EasyRestore but I need a way to get Win2K to go
> through it's EULA Agreement panel and the Product Key entry
> (essentially finishing Win2K setup) after the image has been put
> on the laptop's drive and the laptop is reset and wakes up in
> Win2K the first time. I have a legal copy of Win2K for each
> laptop so that is not a problem. I only am trying to
> (effectively) add our software to the manufacturer's Recovery
> disk(s) so we can ship the new "System Recovery Disk(s)"
> instead. Thanks for any help anyone can provide. Also I would
> like the same information for WinXP since the manufacturer is
> changing over from Win2K to WinXP in October. Hard to believe
> that they are just now changing to WinXP, no?
> -- Don Ramsey

Sideways:
You need to purchase Windows Volume Licensing, then Product ID
need not be different. However the machine's SID *must* be
different on each system if joined to a Windows domain.
SYSPREP (see at Microsoft) is another option perhaps...

This is more of a Windows Installation question, than a registry
one in my opinion. In part because I do not believe you can change
the W2K Product ID after installation without ill effects. Not
certain of that. XP (pro?) can change Product ID. The SID can
be changed post-installation but may be unsupported by MS.

HTH