Windows Embedded Standard 7 Product Activation

Thanks Bill2 you've been most helpful ... much appreciated!

Hello,

I was wondering if there was a final solution to this problem since I am in the same boat. I had purchased the WES7 toolkit key and created the image. But the new image says I only have 180 days eval. What do I need and how do I make this not an evaluation copy legitimately? Where would I enter the OEM specific license?

Thank you in advance for any pointers.
--kc

Hi kc007,

Bill2 (above) pretty much nailed it. The evaluation copy cannot be legitimately licensed. There is no legitimate path to activate an EVAL Image. The only solution is to build the OS with a Microsoft (MS) supplied 5x5 activation PID. After you submit your application to MS for a company PID, you will receive a 5x5 activation PID. You need to enter this MS activation PID EITHER in the IBW product screen when doing the OOBE OR enter it into the ICE tool in the Product-->Operating System-->Foundatin Core-->Windows Embedded Edition-->Shell-Setup-->Product Key setting for the Specialize configuration pass. Once you have done this and the build is now complete the resultant image is now an Activated and “Ready-to-Deploy” OS image. This final image is now capable of being captured and deployed to any and all target systems by using tools like ImageX / Ghost or whatever.

Hope that helps.

Kris

But where do you buy said "runtime product activation licenses"? Can you buy one as an end user (IT department) to create your own Gold Image to redeploy to thin clients?

Wow, this is an old thread dating back over 5 years. Glad I held onto some of those emails.

My company purchased activation licenses from bsquare.com. They are an authorized Microsoft Windows Embedded Distributor. Once I made the purchase, folks at bsquare.com were very helpful in getting my system up and running.

Well thanks for the reply! So you said 'licenses' plural. Did you purchase them per end device or per image type?

Were you the end user or were you creating a product?

We were not the end user; we were creating a product. Unfortunately, it was a product that never came to fruition. We purchased them per image type. At the time, there were 3 SKUs: WS7E = Economical, WS7P = Professional, and WS7C = Consumer (for set top box guys). We purchased 1 WS7E and 1 WS7P. These were used to create a WS7E image and a WS7P image. If we would have needed to make 1000 WS7P devices, they all would have been copied from the same original image from the one license. However, each WS7P device would have needed its own official Microsoft sticker to show proof of royalty payment.