SIDCHGX 1.0e is an advanced utility to individualize your cloned Windows 2022/11/2019/2016/10/8.1/2012 R2/8/2012/7/2008 R2 computers. SID change and computer name change are applied during bootup.
New Computer name is determined over network using DNS or DHCP, set from serial number or MAC address, or can be entered manually at boot stage.
Post Step operations, to be run immediately after booting up with new SID and new computername, can be configured.
These are Windows update, Shutdown/Reboot, Join domain, Execute command, Uninstall SIDCHGX. Confirmation Email and Printout can also be configured.
Usage
SIDCHGX application to configure settings:
After pressing ON-OFF button the SID Change at next Boot gets activated and the Toolbar Color changes to Red:
Before cloning the computer, be sure to perform a Full Shutdown for example with command shutdown /s /f /t 0, not a Hybrid Shutdown for Fast Startup.
During next Boot, SID and computername are updated:
After booting up, defined Post Steps are executed. During that phase, information Window is shown in bottom right screen corner.
The toolbar in SIDCHGX application changes to Yellow color. Progress messages are shown at the bottom of the application.
Once completed, the toolbar color changes back to Green again:
Pricing
SIDCHGX is free to try for evaluation for 30 days maximum, but not free to use.
Monthly trial keys for evaluation purposes are available.
New trial key will be uploaded during 5th-10th day of month.
Purchase license
Upon registration, you will be sent license key for SIDCHGX 1.0.
Please visit Purchase page.
Note about Windows Licensing, KMS et al
SIDCHGX does not affect Windows licensing. Use slmgr -rearm to reset licensing information of imaged clones.
Note about SID change of domain computers
After the SID change computers on a domain possibly loose domain membership and need to rejoin. In addition, SID of a domain controller server cannot be changed.
To change the SID of a domain controller, it needs to be demoted first, and promoted again after SID change.
Note on Anti-Virus
For secure SID change, it is recommended to define Antivirus Process Exclusion of C:\Windows\System32\sidchgx64boot.exe
(C:\Windows\System32\sidchgxboot.exe on 32-bit Windows). If the option Change SID in Browser settings is enabled within SIDCHGX
to preserve browser settings after SID change, then it is mandatory to define the Process exclusion.
There is too much danger otherwise that Anti-virus protection will stop running SID change process in the middle of operation,
leaving the system in a bad state.
Note about preservation of credentials stored in Windows Vault
To preserve stored credentials after SID change, create a backup of the Vault before the SID change using Credential Manager's backup functionality.
The backup needs to be stored in user's TEMP-directory with the name SIDCHGX.crd. The password of the vault is SIDCHGX. User's TEMP-directory can be determined with command echo %TEMP% from command prompt.
Often it is C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp. After the SID change and recovery of the Vault credentials, the SIDCHGX.crd file will be deleted. To prevent the deletion, assign READ-only attribute
to the file. For increased security, the file can optionally be stored NTFS-encrypted.
Note about SID change with BitLocker
SID change with SIDCHGX must not be run with BitLocker Volume encryption enabled. This leads to complete data loss. BitLocker needs to be turned off and drives being decrypted.
If desired, BitLocker can be reenabled after the SID change.
Automation of setup
The sidchgx64.exe rsp sidchgx.exe from installation directory support following commandline options: /LOAD=path to saved macro.SIX , /ACTIVATE and /DEACTIVATE.
/LOAD= loads a presaved macro/configuration-file. /ACTIVATE activates the SID change at reboot, while /DEACTIVATE deactivates it. Please note that sidchgx(64).exe must be called with Administrator rights
and from installation directory (not be copied away and then called). The /LOAD=-option must be specified before the /ACTIVATE if both are specified.
The program usually runs asynchronously. To let it run synchronously and receive a return code, run as follows:
START /WAIT "" "C:\install-dir\SIDCHGX64.exe" /LOAD="C:\somedir\savedmacro.SIX" /ACTIVATE
Specify full pathnames within the command.
The return code can be read from variable %errorlevel% and is 0 for success, 1 if the load of macro fails and 2 if the activation fails.
This allows to prepare a SIDCHGX configuration for PC setup once and save it. Then have it activated from a command script whenever needed for example if the clone image is being updated.
Note about Trial key restriction
The one usage restriction with trial key is the time limit of 1 week after enabling the "SID change at boot" setting. If system is booted more than a week later, the SID will no longer be changed with trial key. But a changed system with trial key will not undo the changement.
How to be alerted about updates of SIDCHGX
To be informed when an update of SIDCHGX becomes available, use service webalert.email. After registering and signin in, Add a New Web Alert for Url https://www.stratesave.com with keyword SIDCHGX,
or possibly with key word New! which will inform you about any new or updated Stratesave Software.
