Windows XP Pro Licencing

[Preston]

This is a complicated one. We have a site licence for Xp Pro in school.

We are running 2 networks, 1 ICL one linked to all the other schools in Moray and 1 in school computing network running windows 2000. the win 2000 computing network is being nasty as hell and i want to upgrade it to win xp pro so im going to test this setup on an old server and 2 machines to see how well it works and if it works....If so ill do it in the summer hols.

 

Now these older machines are PIII 128Mb RAM which i will stick another 128Mb into.

 

The main question is....can i legaly install Windows Xp Stripped? its xp pro but stripped of all the "crap" that slows the systems down, no games, visual styles etc etc. Just barebones OS and Drivers etc. This Os runs like a dream on these machines once they have 256Mb RAM in them and i think it would sort all my damn problems with compatability etc out.

 

Gus

[ChrisH]

Im going to guess no because of the modification to the source files that will be involved.

[plexer]

I was more interested in the windows xp pro site licence part, how does that work or do you mean you have a microsoft schools agreement in place?

 

If it's just xp installed by using the tools provided by microsoft to customise the installation etc.. then I don't see why not. However if it's been done by "hacking" the files and resources then I'd say no too.

 

Ben

[pete]

Providing you're not altering the source, you should be fine.

 

If you're thinking of using something like nLite (check the licensing - don't think you can unless personal) to create custom install disks, be very careful what you remove since random seemingly unrelated frivolous crap often isn't.

 

The above method can also make application fault diagnosis "interesting".

[Preston]

The install itself is basically just Xp Pro where someone has edited the install to not include a variety of things which are seen to be expendable. The source is the same. I dont see much of a problem tbh.

 

And yes a schools agreement.

 

Gus

[plexer]

In that case I see no problems.

 

Ben

[Geoff]

It doesn't matter anyway. There's no click through EULA until after you start the install. So your free to make any changes to the install CD you like. The only restriction is that you can't distribute the changes to 3rd parties.

[webman]

So if you have an unattended setup routine that doesn't display the EULA, it doesn't apply to you? If only

[NetworkGeezer]

So if you have an unattended setup routine that doesn't display the EULA, it doesn't apply to you? If only

 

Actually webman you have the right idea regarding an unattended setup. You can add entried in unattended.txt so that so features are not installed. It just saves you the bother of running Add/Remove Programs later on.

 

Look in Deploy.CAB int the Tools folder of the XP disc. There should be a CHM file for unattended setup.

[Preston]

Fantastic Now to test

[Geoff]

So if you have an unattended setup routine that doesn't display the EULA, it doesn't apply to you? If only

 

yep. You accept the EULA on first boot instead. There's that 'first steps' wizard. With the binging and the pointless spinny thing. Same as if you sysprep.

[webman]

So if you have an unattended setup routine that doesn't display the EULA, it doesn't apply to you? If only

 

yep. You accept the EULA on first boot instead. There's that 'first steps' wizard. With the binging and the pointless spinny thing. Same as if you sysprep.

 

Ahh right, OK... well as you can probably guess I'm not a RIS/Windows unattended expert