Tech Tips

Computers for Classrooms is dedicated to providing information for other computer refurbishers - to share some our ideas that may be able to make your efforts more productive. If you have any questions contact Pat Furr.

ChangeVLKey

Change VL Key (Change Volume License Key) is a free tool offered by Microsoft. The purpose of running the script is to deactive Windows.

The easiest way to obtain the file may be to cut and paste the following text between the "====" and save it to a file using Microsoft "notepad" named ChangeVLKey.vbs.

We create a file on a floppy disk, flash drive or on the hard drive of the computer. The program needs to be run so that rather than typing the run file each time we cut and paste the command to the start - run command line. An example is to save a file on the floppy disk called ChangeVLCommand.txt so that you can open the file and cut and paste the command such as: a:\ChangeVLKey.vbs XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX The X's are replaced by the current product key that you have used to set up the computer. You would have copied the ChangeVLKey.vbs file to the floppy drive ahead of time. You can also copy the file to the hard drive of the computer in which case you would replace the a drive by c drive.

====================

'**********************************************************************

' WMI Script - ChangeVLKey.vbs

' This script changes the product key on the computer '

'**********************************************************************

ON ERROR RESUME NEXT

if Wscript.arguments.count<1 then

Wscript.echo "Script can't run without VolumeProductKey argument"

Wscript.echo "Correct usage: Cscript ChangeVLKey.vbs ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PRSTU-WYQZX"

Wscript.quit

end if

Dim VOL_PROD_KEY

VOL_PROD_KEY = Wscript.arguments.Item(0) VOL_PROD_KEY = Replace(VOL_PROD_KEY,"-","") 'remove hyphens if any Dim WshShell Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

WshShell.RegDelete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents\OOBETimer" 'delete OOBETimer registry value for each Obj in GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}").InstancesOf ("win32_WindowsProductActivation")

result = Obj.SetProductKey (VOL_PROD_KEY)

if err <> 0 then

WScript.Echo Err.Description, "0x" & Hex(Err.Number)

Err.Clear

end if

====================

After you run the script file you will not notice that the computer has been deactived until you reboot it. You will then be prompted to activate Windows

Clonezilla Server Setup Guide

This guide has been developed for PC users that want to set up a free multi-casting server to assist in loading computers in a very efficient and cost-free manner. I have selected versions that will make it easier for novice Linux users to be able to set up a server in a short time. It is a step by step guide that will work! Enjoy using it.

Clonezilla Setup Guide