[mpattonm]

I was trimming down the footprint of my setup during last few days to achive my goal of less then 250MB for WindowsXP (BTW my current footprint with WinXP SP2 is 278 MB). That is because I would like to use 256 CF IDE card to boot and run my OS from (with a little help of EWF taken out from XP Embedded). I was supprised when I realised biggest file in my System32 folder is OEMBIOS.BIN. It is 12.5 MB big. I know OEMBIOS.* files are part of corporate licence, and they are needed for proper licence validation, but 12.5 MB is not it quite a big file? Considering WinXP also reads this file anytime it starts to verify licence, causing unwanted delays, I would like to ask if anyone knows how to avoid this file.

[Jeremy]

So is this file needed for Activation or something related to it? It would be nice to get rid of a file this big.

[mpattonm]

Jeremy, on Dec 4 2004, 10:46 AM, said:

So is this file needed for Activation or something related to it? It would be nice to get rid of a file this big.

That is basically my question. If I simply delete it, OS will not start saying "could not valideta your licence".

[Jeremy]

Try in virtual PC or VMware...

[mpattonm]

Jeremy, on Dec 4 2004, 10:46 AM, said:

So is this file needed for Activation or something related to it? It would be nice to get rid of a file this big.

That is basically my question. If I simply delete it, OS will not start saying "could not validate your licence".

[Jeremy]

Uhm, why did you just double post?

[prathapml]

Good idea!
Lets see if someone has info about *WHAT EXACTLY* oembios.bin does. Then, probably replace it with a 0-byte dummy file, or at the least leave behind only essential contents of the file (after stripping out info about OEMs and SLP for their BIOSes).
But doing this seems to go dangerously near forbidden things. So be on guard! (don't post anything that could trash activation)

[Tomik]

Some people (I too) have corporate version of Windows and don't need activation, so think to this peoples too

[mpattonm]

Jeremy, on Dec 4 2004, 01:44 PM, said:

Uhm, why did you just double post?

I have no clue why that happened. Anyway, why do you ask? Will it help to solve my problem somehow?

[newsposter]

oembios.bin is part of windows activation.

This particular file contains motherboard-specific BIOS string information. If you have an OEM version of XP, one of the things that Windows Activation does is to compare the approved strings encoded in oembios.bin with strings in your motherboard BIOS.

If the strings don't match, then WA refuses to let you go on. This is one of the ways that Microsoft and the OEM makers tie their XP distros to the hardware for which it's licensed.

oembios.bin (and the associated WA files) is different for every OEM (Dell, HP, IBM, etc, etc) version of XP out there. oembios.bin is submitted to WHDQL and cataloged there so it's pretty well embedded into OEM XP distros.

IF (and it's an untested IF) you can find the correct WA files from a generic copy of XP you MIGHT (another untested MIGHT) be able to swap out the OEM versions.

Someone is going to have to test this though.

[prathapml]

newsposter, on Dec 5 2004, 04:45 AM, said:

IF (and it's an untested IF) you an find the correct WA files from a generic copy of XP you MIGHT (another untested MIGHT) be able to swap out the PEM versions.

Someone is going to have to test this though.

Thanks for the info put in precise words.
I think I'll test it. But not right now, as I gotta cram for a test.

[Jeremy]

I'll test it.

[SFiorito]

Hey guys, mpatton posted this same question on the mp3car forums and I posted one solution that may interest you guys. Go here: http://www.mp3car.co...ead.php?t=37724 It's how to use the minlogon component from XP embedded. Just like EWF, it may not be for everyone, but at least it gets rid of this freaking 12.5MB file.

Later,
Frito

[wk357mag]

SFiorito, on Dec 5 2004, 12:23 AM, said:

Hey guys, mpatton posted this same question on the mp3car forums and I posted one solution that may interest you guys. Go here: http://www.mp3car.co...ead.php?t=37724 It's how to use the minlogon component from XP embedded. Just like EWF, it may not be for everyone, but at least it gets rid of this freaking 12.5MB file.

Later,
Frito

Now this could be really kewl !!!

[bigman1]

This is awesome

[MCT]

i wonder..

is oembios needed if u run a program that uses your hardware footprint for an activation code? would this still work ok?

[duminas]

wk357mag, on Dec 4 2004, 09:10 PM, said:

SFiorito, on Dec 5 2004, 12:23 AM, said:

Hey guys, mpatton posted this same question on the mp3car forums and I posted one solution that may interest you guys. Go here: http://www.mp3car.co...ead.php?t=37724 It's how to use the minlogon component from XP embedded. Just like EWF, it may not be for everyone, but at least it gets rid of this freaking 12.5MB file.

Later,
Frito

Now this could be really kewl !!!

I wish that site would work for me; I can't get any sort of response from it.
Could someone quote the relevant post off of their board, please?

[bigman1]

Well I tested it out and it's working without a problem now

[Jeremy]

It mentioned faster boot time. Mine is 17 seconds.

[SFiorito]

woah!!! 17 seconds?? compared to what beforehand?? ****, i'm stuck with this s***ty old drive (my 2.5" drive died so i'm using an old maxtor) so I can't really get a feel for how much faster it is.