DonS Posted February 6, 2018 Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 I created a VM image and deployed it without any probs. Had a hardware problem and had to install SD on new pc. Created a new VM image and activated Win 10. New deployments will not activate now Win 10. Any suggestions? Thanks Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmartDeploySupport Posted February 6, 2018 Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 Hi Don, Activating Windows on the reference VM has no bearing on whether it will activate on the target PC. The Sysprep\Generalize process which runs on every image at deployment time strips out any existing license info from the image. SmartDeploy provides two opportunities to enter a Windows product key - either in Capture Wizard (in which case it is hashed and written into the metadata of the image to be used at deployment time), or in Deploy Wizard (in which case it is written into the Sysprep Unattend.xml to be used at deployment time). If you do not provide a Windows product key at one of these times, then we cannot guarantee that the target device will activate. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at support (at) smartdeploy.com Regards, Glenn SmartDeploy Support 888.7DEPLOY toll-free _____________________________ SmartDeploy® Learn about our award winning Windows deployment solutions www.smartdeploy.com www.deploycentral.com Twitter: @SmartDeploy Facebook: SmartDeploy Spiceworks: Spiceworks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonS Posted February 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 no product key was entered in the answer file of the image that worked. After the new pc booted up, the OEM license would then be activated. Maybe I am missing something. Is there a support telephone number that I can call? Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmartDeploySupport Posted February 6, 2018 Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 Hi Don, OEM licenses do not include reimaging rights from Microsoft. We have had some customers report success with such licenses, but it is inconsistent and unreliable (by design), as the license is only intended to be used to revert the device back to its original factory image. SmartDeploy has no interaction with this process, so we have no control over whether or not Microsoft allows the device to activate if you do not provide a license key for us to pass through at deployment time. Our recommendation is to look into getting a volume license. We are not a volume license reseller, but we can put you in touch with one - go ahead and email us and we can send you their info. Regards, Glenn SmartDeploy Support 888.7DEPLOY toll-free _____________________________ SmartDeploy® Learn about our award winning Windows deployment solutions www.smartdeploy.com www.deploycentral.com Twitter: @SmartDeploy Facebook: SmartDeploy Spiceworks: Spiceworks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchao Posted February 21, 2018 Report Share Posted February 21, 2018 As Support mentioned, volume licensing is the correct way to go about this. But we've had luck pulling the OEM key from BIOS using something like ShowKeyPlus, then activating with that key. There are ways to automate this with a PS script. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSacredBird Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 I ran into this issue as well. If you have a digital license key which you most likely do then you need to get an ISO for windows 10 and reinstall the OS, this will reactivate windows. Fully complete the initial "out-of-box" set up while connected to the internet (so it can connect to the Microsoft servers and activate the digital license). When you get to the desktop for the first time is when your digital key will be activated, you don't need to worry about preforming all of the windows updates before you image. From there you can go ahead and image it. I would recommend setting your answer file to shutdown rather than restart after the image is complete. Make sure when you power the PC back on it is connected to the internet via ethernet cable or the digital key will not activate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff C Posted May 31, 2018 Report Share Posted May 31, 2018 I have deployed 50 OEM Windows 10 machines without a VL. What I noticed is that a few machines were activated immediately, whereas others had to be online for anywhere from 24-72 hours before they would activate. But everyone of them did eventually activate with the OEM license. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j4anderson Posted July 16, 2018 Report Share Posted July 16, 2018 Jeff, did you put the individual product key in the deploy wizard? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff C Posted February 4, 2019 Report Share Posted February 4, 2019 My apologies, I have been on other projects and never returned to this topic. I know this is a very late reply, but the answer is no. I did not put the product key in the deploy wizard. That said, I have had the best success when the newly imaged computer is started for the first time with an active LAN connection (ethernet) rather than WiFi. My total deployments now are around 64, including re-imaging a few machines after employee turnover. I still have not had a single one fail to activate. I'm sure you know this already, but just in case... you cannot upgrade an OS (say from Windows 7 to Windows 10) and have it activate. Windows 10 must be OEM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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