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Can Surface Pro OEM Image Be Customized And Redeployed?

Answered Can Surface Pro OEM Image Be Customized And Redeployed?

  • Monday, March 18, 2013 3:28 PM
     
     
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    Can the the preloaded image provided with the Surface Pro be customized by removing unwanted applications, installing custom apps, configuring a customized default profile with a cleaned-up Start menu with everything removed except links to their work apps plus custom shortcuts on the Desktop?

    I will get a USB ethernet dongle, so the only driver I want to inject is the network driver for the third party network dongle.  I want either keep all the drivers intact during deployment (since the image would not be used on anything other than Surface Pros that use the same drivers) or have the drivers all download from Windows Update.


    Since it is the OEM image, we would need to enter the unique license keys on each Surface Pro.  Is there any way to automate this such as having it match license key from WMIC serialmumber etc and enter it automatically during deployment by matching it to a text file or spreadsheet containing license keys for each serial number?

     

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  • Tuesday, March 19, 2013 5:03 AM
     
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    I don't think you can customize & reimage any OEM Factory images.

    Customizing Windows 7 Professional Edition

    Reimaging Licensed Microsoft Software by Using Volume Licensing Media

    • Marked As Answer by MyGposts Thursday, March 21, 2013 12:19 AM
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  • Tuesday, March 19, 2013 5:49 PM
     
     
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    So you cannot syspep an OEM system and then redeploy the cloned image to multiple identical PCs (that all originally used the same base OEM image as the machine that was sysprepped) and just manually add the correct OEM license keys to each system during deployment?  
     
  • Wednesday, March 20, 2013 10:08 AM
     
     
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    No, this is not supported if you are not an OEM reseller.

    Look overhere for the licensing terms: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/volume-licensing-briefs.aspx using OEM media for imaging is verboten per the Windows EULA. There are no exceptions!


    If this post is helpful please click "Mark for answer", thanks! Kind regards

     
  • Wednesday, April 03, 2013 9:17 PM
     
     
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    Yes, you can totally do that. It will be "unsupported" but you can easily modify the image to your liking, boot into WinPE/MDT/SCCM, capture the WIM and then re-deploy with the product keys for each machine. What you absolutely cannot do is modify the recovery partition image file. It is definitely proprietary in how it is built and how it expands during a reset and refresh.

    I have a few guides here if you are interested and a guide specifically for MDT here.