OA2.x support for NUC7 series

[MHo10]

Hi, I've tried to apply Microsoft OEM Activation 2.x onto the Intel NUC7 PC (NUC7i5BNH). However the tool (Version x007) does not succeed for the Windows platform and reporting an error with an error message that is not supported. However the same version of the tool can be run successfully on DOS.

OEM Activation 2.0 Utility - X007 Copyright (C) 2004-2012, Intel Corporation Distributed under restricted license. Do not redistribute.   GetVariable() failed to return EFI Variable Size -- FAILURE 0h - SUCCESS This tool is not authorized to update this BIOS.

Just wondering if anyone got a updated tool for the Windows platform (both 32 and 64 bit) where it can runs in Windows PE so that I can apply that onto the NUC PCs without going to DOS to apply that one individually? (currently got about 80 of these and if it goes to do that via DOS one by one looks impractical)

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello MHo10,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

It is worth mentioning that since the Intel® NUC Kit NUC7i5BNH comes without Operating System from our side, the support is usually intended to Operating System stand-alone installations.

However, I will look into this inquiry and as soon as I have more details I will be posting back.

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[MHo10]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the reply, just look for that is there's any OEM Activation 2.x for Windows platform (in both 32/64 bits) which is compatible with newer Intel NUCs and does not require DOS to be run over those devices.

Man

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello MHo10,

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Regarding your inquiry for OEM Activation for Windows platform on Intel® NUCs, the more recent tool that we have available for this work is Intel® VCUST Tool. It runs in Windows but from a power shell, it can also be used under WinPE*.

You can download Intel® VCUST Tool from this link:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28900/Intel-VCUST-Tool

Please refer to the User Guide at the following link:

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/mini-pcs/nuc-boards/VCUST-User-Guide.pdf

Hope this helps.

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[MHo10]

Hi Andrew,

Just had a look for this tool, the VCUST tool is intended to do with the OEM Activation 3.0 purposes, but not dealing anything with OEM Activation 2.x.

Technically OA3 is totally different with OA2 where different ACPI tables to deal with (MSDM vs SLIC).

Hope this one can clarify with this situation.

Man

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello MHo10,

Thank you for your response.

The Intel® VCUST Tool is the available tool from Intel® designed to assist with integrators and OEM Windows* product key injection.

Regarding the differences between OEM Activation OA3 and OA2 and ACPI tables (MSDM vs SLIC) we kindly recommend you contact Microsoft® Support for more accurate information and to see if there are additional suggestions to achieve the OEM Activation process.

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

*Links to third-party sites and references to third-party trademarks are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, Intel® is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of Intel® or any of its products is implied.

[MHo10]

Hi Andrew,

As mentioned above the VCUST tool have no OA2 support and the Windows Product Key injection is part of OA3 only.

C:\VCUST>VCUSTW64.exe -OA2   ====== Copyright (c) 2019, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. ======Intel(R) VCUST Version 1.0.0     ================================================================================ GENERAL SYNTAX FORMAT: VCUSTW64 category [-switch]...[-switch]   VCUSTW64 [-BIO=<filename>] -OA3 -OEMID=<oemid> -TABLEID=<tableid> -OAData=<filename> [-QUEUE=<filename>] [-APPLYQUEUE] VCUSTW64 [-BIO=<filename>] -OA3 -OAClear [-QUEUE=<filename>] [-APPLYQUEUE] VCUSTW64 [-BIO=<filename>] -OA3 -CURRENT [-QUEUE=<filename>] [-APPLYQUEUE] VCUSTW64 [-BIO=<filename>] -CONFIG -UQI=<> -VALUE=<> [-QUEUE=<filename>] [-APPLYQUEUE] VCUSTW64 [-BIO=<filename>] -BOOTCOUNT -COUNT=<> [-QUEUE=<filename>] [-APPLYQUEUE] VCUSTW64 [-BIO=<filename>] -LOGO=<filename> [-QUEUE=<filename>] [-APPLYQUEUE] VCUSTW64 [-BIO=<filename>] -SMBIOS -CURRENT [-QUEUE=<filename>] [-APPLYQUEUE] VCUSTW64 [-BIO=<filename>] -SMBIOS switch=<string>|<value> [-QUEUE=<filename>] [-APPLYQUEUE]   SMBIOS switches: -S[M|P|V|S|K|F] <string> write system mfg|product|version|serial|sku number|family string -C[M|V|S|A] <string> write chassis mfg|version|serial|asset string -CT <byte> write chassis type byte (01h-7Fh) -OEM[1-255] <string> write an individual OEM String   VCUSTW64 -OA3 -Display VCUSTW64 -SMBIOS -Display   VCUSTW64 HELP or VCUSTW64 ?   Syntax entry is not case sensitive.   ================================================================================ Invalid combination of options specified on the command line.

The question is where can I get the one for OA2 support? (The OA3 key injection is not related to this topic thus needs to clarify about this one)

Man

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello MHo10,

Thank you for your response.

Please allow me to look into your inquiry regarding clarification for OA2 support.

As soon as I have more details I will be posting back on the thread.

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[MHo10]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the reply again, looks likely either a new version of the OA2 injection tool for the Intel products (on both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows platform) or integrate the OA2 functionalities into the existing VCUST tool is required to resolving this issue. Looking forward if there's any updates regarding to this one.

Man

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello MHo10,

Thank you for your patience with this matter.

The OA2.0 is for Windows Vista installation only. However, Intel® NUC 7th generations you are trying to install (as the Intel® NUC Kit NUC7i5BNH) supports only Windows® 10. For this purpose, we only have the Intel® VCUST Tool which works only with OA3.0.

Having said that, we kindly recommend you contacting Microsoft Volume Licensing Support for assistance. Please refer to the following links:

How to contact the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center*

Microsoft® Volume Licensing Service Center*

You might also want to check the following Microsoft® article* for more details:

https://download.microsoft.com/download/c/3/8/c3815ed7-aee7-4435-802b-8e855d549154/VolumeActivation2.0Step-By-StepGuide.doc

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

*Links to third-party sites and references to third-party trademarks are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, Intel® is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of Intel® or any of its products is implied.

[MHo10]

Hi Andrew,

Although OA "2.0" is intended for Vista installation only, its successor up to OA "2.5" is supporting Windows Server 2019. which can be apply using the OA2 stamping tool. Just back to the original question, the same version of the tool does not work in Windows platform (OA2IntelWin), however the same version works in DOS platform (OA2Intel).

The volume licensing does not deal with this matter as those are the KMS and MAK activation method only, and the article does not mention anything for the OEM SLP activation.

Man

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hello Man,

I work with Andrew and we have been looking into this case, unfortunately I don't have good news. I have confirmation from the engineering team that we don't have any sort of OA2.x tool available for NUCs. The tools we have available are either VCUST or ITK6 as we have mentioned before.

I wish I could help you more but this is what we have for now.

Regards,

Ronny G

[MHo10]

Hi Ronny,

So is that means like there's no Windows PE variant of the OA2Intel tool available for the newer Intel NUCs but only have the DOS variant which run in that mode only?

Kind regards,

Man

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi Man,

My understanding is the OA2Intel is intended for Microsoft Windows Vista*, Microsoft Windows 7* and Microsoft Windows Server 2008*.

For 7th Gen NUC we recommend VCUST, It is supported under WinPE and please keep in mind that our 7th Gen NUCs are validated only with Windows 10*.

See the following URL for further information and also the list of supported platforms.

Regards,

Ronny G

[MHo10]

Hi Ronny,

Thanks for the information, however as mentioned before, the current version of VCUST tool does not support for adding the OA 2.x marker for the Intel products.

The following Windows products are supporting OEM 2.x activation:

• OA 2.0 - Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
• OA 2.1 - Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• OA 2.2 - Windows Server 2012
• OA 2.3 - Windows Server 2012 R2
• OA 2.4 - Windows Server 2016 (and its semi-annual release from 1607 to 1803)
• OA 2.5 - Windows Server 2019 (and its semi-annual release from 1809)

Hope if there's any newer implementation of OA2Intel for WinPE which can correctly supports the newer Intel NUC Product, or to integrating the OA2 capabilities into the newer release of the VCUST program to fulfilling this purpose.

Regards,

Man

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi Man,

Before I retake investigation on this issue, can you please confirm what is the Operating System that you are trying to deploy and how many systems are impacted?

Thanks,

Ronny G

[MHo10]

Hi Ronny,

We're actually deploying Windows 10 Pro systems for those Intel NUCs, however by the documentation by Microsoft, any deployments for Windows 10 Pro by OEMs must inject the OA 2.x as well.

So we need to find out a solution how to add those marker onto those devices on Windows PE platform. (Please note that the OA2Intel x007 for DOS is working for those Intel NUCs.)

We had 80 of those before, however those was only resolved by adding the marker in DOS environment.

(If you need the OA2Intel tool, I can PM to you if possible to verify this issue.)

Kind regards,

Man

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi Man,

VCUST is designed for OEM Windows Product Key Injection (OEM Activation 3.0, OA3) for Nuc products.

If you are using VCUST and Windows 10, can you please provide me with more details about the issue that you are having?

I have OA2Intel tool and I actually checked on the original documentation that comes with the tool and it doesnt mention anything about Windows 10 (Windows 10 was not available at the time), OA2Intel Tool may work with our NUCs but it is not supported, VCUST was designed to replace this tool.

I also quickly checked on Microsoft website and found this reference: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4346763/validating-the-oem-activation-key-in-windows-10-build-1703-and-later-b which points out to OA3 for Windows 10.

I dont do this all the time so I could be wrong, please provide me with a detailed description of the issue between VCUST OA3 and Windows 10 and I will do some more digging.

By the way, I am going to be out of the office for a couple of weeks so other peers may enter this conversation.

One other option which could expedite resolution is to reach out to our support service via phone, here is the contact us information: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html#@6 and make reference to case ID: 4369211.

Regards,

Ronny G

[MHo10]

Hi Ronny,

Please note that this thread has nothing related to the OA 3.0 at all, it's only the OA 2.x related issue.

Let say If I need to deploy the Windows Server 2019 products onto Intel NUCs, and the OA2Intel tool on Windows PE had the problem to says it is not a authorized product that's update with (see also the first comment on this thread). However the same tool for DOS version did not report any problem and it had run successfully.

The same technique using different marker should apply for the earlier version of Windows, just using the different version of the Marker file.

I've PMed you the information regarding to the OEM Activation 2.5.

The OEM Activation Tool 2.x (OATool.exe and OACheck.exe) can be obtained in the Windows ADK from the Microsoft download site.

Kind regards,

Man

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello MHo10,

The tool we have available for OEM Windows® Product Key Injection on Intel® NUCs is the Intel® VCUST Tool and it works with OEM Activation 3.0, OA3.

Since we have not any soft of OA2.x tool available for NUCs at this point and only Intel® VCUST or Intel® ITK6 are available, we recommend you to approach Microsoft OEM Activation support for this concern.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[MHo10]

Hi Andrew and Ronny,

Thanks for the status update, by far of this point the only tool available to add the OA 2.x marker for the new model of Intel NUCs is using the DOS version of OA2Intel at this moment.

If there's any update for the OA2Intel for Windows PE 32/64 (OA2IntelWin / OA2IntelWinx64 or similar) please let me know if any of those tools becomes available.

Thanks and regards,

Man