OK, here’s how I do things to keep PC’s moving along quickly. I am the only PC tech at a credit union. The tools I use to set up new PC’s quickly are Ghost and a USB2 external hard drive. We use multiple software to do all the various jobs in the CU. I set up one PC with the required software, OS updates, etc. I then use this image to load up the other similar PC’s. I then add and remove apps from this image for other job position requirements. For each PC I change the IP, the network name, theSID, join the domain, copy any final personal stuff over the network, and off it goes! Since we use network storage for personal files and settings, it makes reloading corrupted systems a snap! This is especially important for some of our older plaforms (P400 and below). To reload a slow PC like this from scratch could literally take all day! It’s simply not viable to shut down someone for a day like that. I also don’t have the kind of time to spend watching paint dry, errr…I mean, software load over and over again. This new Windows Product Activation stuff has me worried. The PC’s come pre-loaded with XP most of the time. The software is already activated, right? If I clone, I’ll clone the activation code, right. Microsoft will see all the clones as pirate copies, right? Is the WPA code is written in stone once the product is activated? Can I change it to reflect the machines true Certificate Of Authenticity? My question is, what kind of problems can I expect from cloning WinXP? Can I alter the code on a clone to reflect it’s actual COA? Is there a viable way to clone it with the efficiency I’ve seen with previous windows products? Does a sysprep tool take this product activation into account? I need info, help!