Question : Windows XP OEM in a virtual machine

Hello,

I'm sure this type of question has been asked countless times before, but here's my situation...

I manage approximately 150 Dell workstations and use a third-party deployment software that takes a virtual machine and turns it into a .wim image for deployment.  I have used the software to successfully capture and deploy a Windows XP image to several workstations so far.

Since we use all Dell systems, I used a Dell OEM XP cd to create the reference virtual machine in vmware Workstation.  I was obviously prompted to activate Windows since it is running on virtual hardware rather than Dell hardware.  Knowing that XP has a 30-day activation grace period, I ignored activation and continued configuring my reference VM.

I now have this reference virtual machine and what I would like to be able to do is periodically boot up the VM and apply software updates, etc.  The problem is, it has been over 30 days since I originally created the VM and installed XP to it, and now I am unable to log in to Windows because the activation grace period has expired.

When the image is deployed to a Dell machine, the activation prompts disappear and the OEM pre-activation takes effect, so that is not a problem.

Given my situation, is it at all possible to have a reference virtual machine, with a Dell OEM XP installation, that I can periodically boot up and perform updates.  Or will I need to create a brand new VM each time I want to update my reference image?

Hopefully that makes sense.

Thanks for the help.

Answer : Windows XP OEM in a virtual machine

"Is it at all possible to have a reference virtual machine, with a Dell OEM XP installation, that I can periodically boot up and perform updates"?
-- Unfortunately no; an OEM license 'stays' with the hardware it comes with. The licensing associates with the specific hardware (Dell, HP, etc.) that it's installed on.

Regards,
~coolsport00