For the last 3 days I’ve been doing one thing: trying to deploy Vista on a new PC with SCCM 2007 R2.
Trying, because I never succeeded, until a few minutes ago. 

I noticed there are many people who have this problem and some of them still not resolved the issue and are using some workarounds or gave up.

So, suppose you have created a task sequence, advertised it and booted from task sequence media; if you receive an error at “Setup Windows and ConfigMgr” step, check the Product Key! It might be that the key is not correct, so either write another one or remove the Product Key at all from “Apply Windows Settings” step in PostInstall section and you will have to provide it during the install phase.

Next time I booted the PC from the TS media, at the Setup Windows and ConfigMgr step I was asked to provide a product key. I entered my Business edition product key and clicked next. Error!?! WTH is going on here?!! As Vista can be installed without providing a product key at the setup phase, I just clicked Next without entering it. This way, Windows Vista deployed successfully but not “as unattended as I wish”.

Maybe my experience with this will help some folks and save their time…