Bah! Humbug!

[nichomach]

And because Media Center Edition PCs use the reliable, powerful Windows XP Professional operating system, you can also do everything you’d normally do on a PC.

Excellent, one would think...except:

Q. Can I connect a new PC running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to a work network or domain?
A. While you can access network resources on a work network or a domain, you cannot join a Windows XP Media Center 2005 PC to the domain. PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 are designed specifically for home use. Professional features, specifically Domain Join and Cached Credentials (Credentials Manager for logins) are not included. As a result, you will be prompted for your login username/password to access network resources after a reboot or logging back into the PC. In addition, file shares or network resources set to require a domain-joined PC for access will not be available. Remote Desktop and Encrypting File System support are still included.
Q. What about consumers upgrading from Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004? Will they lose these features?
A. No. Consumers who are eligible for an upgrade to Media Center Edition 2005 will keep these features as they were a part of their originally purchased product.

So basically, although they make a big HOORAH over MCE being based upon XP Pro, in practice the most useful features that would result from that are delibarately shafted so you can't use them. Why do I care? Because I'm looking at providing PCs for use with plasmas in conference rooms at our HQ. MCE would have provided a few nice features that could have been REALLY useful (and I was thinking about equipping them with Hauppauge PVR500-MCE cards. As it is, the OS is so crippled that it doesn't make any sense to use it. Oh well, hey ho.

Oh, and I like the fact that anyone who ran the 2004 version gets to keep those features, whereas anyone who bus new gets screwed.

[unrealuniverse]

Thats life especially when microsoft appears into the equation.

[nichomach]

Aha! Sorted it in the end! Requirement: 1 DHCP server, and one honkingly old 3Com 3C900 network card. MCE WILL join a domain, but only during the initial installation, where it behaves like Pro. Post-install, the functionality's disabled. However, unless you have a NIC that's got drivers already built in to XP Pro (and most boxen that'd be used for MCE would be using an integrated card that doesn't) you can't actually join the domain. So, stick your old 3Com (or A.N.Other supported card) into the box during the setup, join the domain, install the drivers for the built-in NIC and anything else, pull the 3Com card for re-use, and activate. Bob's yer uncle. Take THAT, Bill!

[TheAnimus]

yes i read about this.

slipstream a disc is the best bet, that way it can use the NIC you want.

The reason they've done this is you can buy MCE for less than Pro.

[nichomach]

I know; if I were building more than a few, I'd slipstream the install; as it is, it's as easy to whang in an old NIC .

[impossible]

The exact same problem held me back from using MCE at first (way back with mce2004) until i found the hack at http://www.thegreenbutton.com


Imp