W7 - OEM media different to match product code?

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Surly73

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 19, 2007
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I've made another post in another forum about dealing with a laptop restoration/migration to SSD from the HDD that came with it.

My question here is specific sub-question. I'm not trying to do anything illegitimate, I just don't want to waste an hour to find out that something I might try to do would never work.

In XP days, I had trouble trying to use media which did not belong with the appropriate OEM license code. If I had an IBM system with an XP license sticker on the side, for example, it seemed like I couldn't just grab any XP install media and use that product code to activate. I didn't spend a lot of time digging into it, I just observed the problem.

What's the situation on Win7? If I have an OEM-licensed piece of hardware, can I use my TechNet install media to install the same edition of W7 and still activate using the legit OEM product code? Or do the big OEMs (like Asus, Lenovo) have specific install media to go with their codes and I MUST somehow use the product recovery disks to do an install?

Thanks,
 
I don't think there is a specific install disk per OEM. But putting in the Windows key directly might not work.

Here's what I did with my HP tm2. I wanted a clean install on the same laptop (is a pain removing all the HP installed crapware).

I downloaded the Windows 7 universal installer. (Google for 'windows 7 universal installer' There are official legal sources to download this iso.)
Downloaded Microsoft's Windows 7 USB install tool.
Create a USB stick that could install Win 7.
Find the file 'ei.cfg' on that USB drive. Delete it.
Backup activation onto an external drive. (Google for 'windows 7 activation backup')
When you try to install windows 7 it will give you a list of OEM options. Pick the option that applies to your OEM istall)
Restore activation from an external drive.
 
With Windows XP, you would need an OEM disc to use the code on the label.

With Windows 7, in my experience, there is no way to use the license on the sticker to activate the product. You will get an error stating it can not be activated in this method.

What I recommend doing is using a program that automates and backs up your activation. Reinstall the OS, Run the program again and apply the activation you saved back onto the system. Another user here, who's no average Joe, has mentioned before several methods to copy the cert file and license (backing up the activation), transferring it into a disc, and creating your own restore disc. I've never tried it so I can't confirm how well it works.
 
Thanks for the info on activation backup - it isn't something I've looked into before and it's good info to know. It turns out that I ended up being able to use a restoration type of install and it looks like the images are all "pre-activated" when recovery is used so the activation is a non-issue (at this point).

I suppose something may change that status at some magic time in the next couple of weeks - not sure. I will try to be sure to do an activation backup before erasing the original HDD contents.
 
No average Joe around here, thankfully... ;)

I had typed out a long answer earlier today and was about to post it when my cat hit my keyboard (jumped from the floor the to desktop) and poof... 12 minutes of typing, gone... BLEH.

Anyway, the short-short version:

It's entirely possible to create your own custom Windows 7 installation disc that is tied directly to any given manufacturer/OEM (as long as the BIOS on the machine supports that OS) simply by adding a small folder to the installation media (make ISO of media, add files to the ISO, reburn, new custom installation disc created, done).

The small folder will contain:

- a batch file of commands to be executed during the process: install the digital xrm-ms certificate which is tied to the given brand (Dell for Dell, etc); install the royalty Product Key for that given brand; and activate the installation
- the xrm-ms digital certificate
- the royalty product key
- maybe some OEM logos, wallpapers, etc if you're so inclined

That's about it. With XP, the OEM branding was done with the 4 OEMBIOS*.* files - in Vista and Windows 7, it's done primarily with the xrm-ms digital certificate (very tiny file, a few kilobytes at most), the royalty Product Key (which is the same for every machine using a given branded OEM edition, so all Dells running Windows 7 Home Premium use the same key, all with Ultimate, same key, etc).

The difference with Vista and Windows 7 is that the BIOS itself on the motherboard of an OEM machine will have SLIC (Software Licensing) information inside, and Vista machines use SLIC 2.0 format while Windows 7 uses SLIC 2.1 (an updated version). If you're trying to do this for a machine that was originally licensed for Vista, it'll only have SLIC 2.0 tables in the BIOS and Windows 7 can't be installed using this custom OEM method - the BIOS must have the proper SLIC 2.1 info for Windows 7. Of course, there are modded BIOS updates available nowadays too where people have added the SLIC 2.1 info so they can install Windows 7, but that info is found elsewhere...

The basic gist:

If you have a Dell (just using this for the example), you can create a custom Dell Windows 7 (edition) disc very easily:

- make ISO of your current Technet installation disc onto your hard drive
- use a program like UltraISO so you can modify the ISO contents
- edit the ei.cfg file in the \sources folder so it specifically chooses an edition to install (you have to have that ei.cfg with an OEM disc, can't do the "universal" installation trick with OEM versions)
- add the $OEM$ folder that has the xrm-ms digital certificate, the royalty Product Key, and the batch files that'll cover all of it during the installation; this folder goes inside the \sources directory on the ISO, if not then this whole process will fail
- save the ISO and burn it to a new disc
- you're done

It seems complicated but, for the first time it might be. After doing it a few times, it's second nature, and I've done this well over 100 times since Windows 7 was released.

The forums over at MyDigitalLife.info cover all this, and people have even created custom $OEM$ folders of all kinds with custom wallpapers, OEM branding logos, etc. A lot of times they just copy the original $OEM$ folder directly from the installation media of a given OEM and share it, pretty simple stuff.

Not a difficult task at all, I assure you, but it's up to you if you want to get it done and how far you'll go in the process.
 
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