2.3.2 Activation & Custom Image Deployment. How does activation work with custom image-based deployments? It all depends on which activation method you choose.
If you only have retail product keys, you are limited in your options. You can either give each end user a product key or assign the keys using a special administrative tool called Volume Activation Management Tools (VAMT). The most recent version of VAMT 2.0 supports retail product keys. It is available as a standalone download at Microsoft Download Center.
In a previous section of Tips and tricks, we discussed two volume-licensing models (VL): KMS or MAK. Activation is easy if you already have KMS installed on your corporate network. You don’t have to do anything if you are deploying Windows 7 VL edition. Once the deployment is complete, and the target computer is restarted for the first time ever, one of your KMS hosts will activate the computer.
There are a few options available if you want to activate MAKs and have the appropriate MAK key. Another option is similar to the one with retail keys. You can assign the MAK directly to target computers using VAMT. Another option is to assign MAK to the original reference computer installation. Sysprep will reset the activation status by default. However, the MAK will still be in the image. The operating system will automatically activate 72 hours after the image has been deployed to a target computer. Or, the target computer user can activate it manually right away.
Let’s wrap up by sharing some useful information about Sysprep 7:
You can only run the sysprep/generalize/oobe command within an active instance of Windows 7. After that, the activation status is reset. This command returns an error on the fourth attempt. The generalized image will remain activated if you do this on an active installation. However, activation will be lost if the image is deployed to another computer (physically or virtual).
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