What is XP OEM preinstallation kit?

[Dayv]

I saw at Newegg they have XP home for $100. But on CD it says for system builder use only in preinstallation of windows XP. Not for distribution to end users. Windows XP Preinstallation Kit. Can any one tell what this means.

 

[RalfHutter]

Here's what the readme for the Preinstall kit says:

"WelcomeWelcome to the Microsoft® Windows® XP OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) User's Guide.
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who build new computers from individual hardware components can use the tools in this kit to preinstall and configure all operating systems in the Windows XP family of operating systems:

Windows XP Home Edition
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition
These same tools and processes can be used to preinstall and configure the Windows 2002 Server family of operating systems.

The availability of particular Windows operating systems varies by the type of OEM license agreement. Availability also varies by language.

OEM Preinstallation Kit Goals
The goals of this guide are to:

Ensure a consistent user experience of the core functionality of the Windows operating system.
Enable you to brand and customize any product in the Windows family of operating systems.
Enable you to quickly and easily preinstall additional applications and device drivers that are not already part of the operating system.
Reduce illegal software piracy.
Provide flexible methodology and tools to help optimize your manufacturing process, whether you build ten or 10,000 computers per month.
Preinstallation Requirements
It is important that you read this guide to ensure that you understand how to use the tools, and to ensure that you are aware of the preinstallation requirements that apply to your license agreement.

As a manufacturer who distributes Windows with new computers, you are required to preinstall the OEM-specific version of the Windows XP operating system. Do not preinstall a retail version of Windows XP. You must also run Sysprep.exe, one of the OPK tools, to enable Windows Welcome or Mini-Setup, which prompts the end user to read the Microsoft End User License Agreement and to enter a user name and password.

For a complete summary of requirements, see the topics in the Preinstallation Requirements and Customization Guidelines section. The remainder of the OPK User's Guide explains how to use the OPK tools and customize Windows to meet the specific needs of your customers.

Customizing the Windows Experience
There are many ways you can customize how Microsoft® Windows® appears to the user ? from inserting your company logo, branding, and support information to customizing Microsoft® Internet Explorer. This allows you to uniquely brand and identify the Windows installation with your company identity. Some of this information is optional, and some is required by the terms of your license agreement.

Adding Your Branding and Logo
You can insert your logo, company name, and model name in key places in the user interface, including support contact information.

Adding Your Company Information and Logo to System Properties
Customizing the Start Menu and the OEM Link
Customizing the Desktop Shortcuts Folder
Inserting Your Information into Help and Support
You can add branding and your own Help topics to Help and Support.

Inserting Your Information into Help and Support
Installing Step By Step Interactive in Windows XP
Customizing Windows Media Player
You can modify the visual appearance of Windows Media Player through "skins," set Windows Media Player as the default DVD player, and enable MP3 encoding.

Customizing Windows Media Player
To make your custom skins available in Windows Media Player
To set the default skin for Windows Media Player
To set Windows Media Player as the default DVD application
To enable MP3 encoding for Windows Media Player
Customizing Microsoft Internet Explorer
You can add your logo and browser buttons to Internet Explorer, and preconfigure links to Favorite Web sites.

Customizing Microsoft Internet Explorer
Designing Toolbar Icons for Internet Explorer


Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) FeaturesWindows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) is a minimal Win32 subsystem with limited services, based on the Windows XP Professional kernel running in protected mode. It contains the minimal functionality you need to run Windows Setup, pull an operating system from a network share, automate basic processes, and perform hardware validation.

The Windows XP OPK CD is itself a bootable copy of the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) (32-bit version) that supports all mass-storage and networking drivers contained on the Windows XP Professional CD.

WinPE provides the following features:

A hardware-independent Windows environment for both x86-based and Itanium-based architectures, with a small footprint on both the bootable media and in memory.
A subset of the Win32 application programming interfaces (APIs), a command-line interface (Cmd.exe) capable of running batch files, and support for standard scripting environments used to create custom OEM tools or scripts.
Network access and support for standard network drivers that may be required for copying images and test suites from a network using TCP/IP. You can easily add or remove network drivers from a customized version of WinPE.
Support for all mass-storage devices that use Windows 2000 or Windows 2002 drivers. As new devices become available, you can easily remove unneeded drivers or incorporate additional drivers into a customized version of WinPE.
Native support to create, delete, format, and manage NTFS file system partitions.
Hardware diagnostics can be run by loading and testing specific hardware drivers.
Support for PXE protocol. If the computer supports PXE-booting, then the computer can automatically boot from a WinPE image located on a Remote Installation Server (RIS). The WinPE image is not automatically installed onto the hard disk of the computer.
Incorporating WinPE into your factory preinstallation process allows you to port your existing MS-DOS-based tools to a subset of the 32-bit Windows APIs, so you can more easily maintain these applications in a standard development environment, such as Microsoft Visual Studio®. These hardware diagnostics and other preinstallation utilities can then use the same signed Windows XP drivers in the computers you manufacture, and you will no longer need to request 16-bit drivers from independent hardware vendors (IHVs).

You can use WinPE on both x86- and Itanium-based computers. For Itanium-based computers, you must build a 64-bit version of WinPE from the Windows XP 64-Bit Edition CD. For more information, see Creating a Customized Version of WinPE.

Important

None of the third-party disk-imaging products currently support the new disk-partitioning scheme, GUID Partition Table (GPT), used in Itanium-based computers. The only methods of preinstalling 64-bit editions of Windows are to either use WinPE or perform a CD-based unattended installation. The recommended method is to use WinPE."