Re: Activation Problem with Windows Server 2008 Standard

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Thanks for your response. I would agree with your assessment except that my
understanding is that this software downloaded from the Microsoft Faculty
Connection web site is not evaluation software at all, but is in fact a full
version (without any time limits) that is licensed for acadmic use by
confirmed members of Faculty Connection. When I download software from this
site, in most cases (and in this specific case), an activation key is
generated by the web site which is supposed to be used when the software is
installed. For all other software that I've downloaded from this site, the
activation key that's generated works and is asked for during installation.
But Windows Server 2008 is the only one that doesn't even ask for the
activation key. I contacted the help folks at Faculty Connection, and after
several days, they directed me to call MS support about it. But I thought
I'd check here first, since I can't imagine I'm the only one who has run into
this issue.

According to Faculty Connection, the key provided (which is never asked for
during the install or after) is supposed to provide full, unlimited,
non-timing-out access to the software. It seems true in all cases except
this one.

"Anthony [MVP]" wrote:

You don't need a key to use the trial, and you don't need to activate it.
"This software is for evaluation and testing purposes. Evaluating Windows
Server® 2008 software does not require product activation or entering a
product key. Any edition of Windows Server 2008 may be installed without
activation and evaluated for an initial 60 days"

If you want to activate it then you need to obtain a valid key. If you think
the key is valid but not working you can ring MS licensing to get them to
fix it. At the moment I don't think anyone else will be able to tell you why
the key seems to be invalid,
Anthony,
http://www.airdesk.com




"kg1" <kg1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ABD5F960-6771-48E1-B15A-4C1CD3C9B447@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After downloading the 2008 Server disc image from the Faculty Connection
site, I installed the Standard (Full) version on a new machine. During
installation, it never asked for the activation code that was supplied at
the
time of download. After installation, it said it would automatically
activate in 3 days. After 3 days, I had an error popup that said the
Windows
could not activate. It said "Key management services (KMS) host could not
be
located in domain name system (DNS), please have your system administrator
verify that a KMS is published correctly in DNS." I then tried to
manually
activate it and got the same error. I've installed and used previous
versions of Windows Server, but I had no idea what this means or how to
resolve it.

I attempted to change the product activation key to the one provided at
the
time of product download using Method 2 described in MSFT Knowledge Base
Article ID 929826. After a very long wait, I got a message saying that
the
key I entered was invalid. I tried again to change the product key via
Control Panel | System, and got the same results. The product ID remains
at
the default value, which seems to be embedded in the downloaded image.
Since
I thought perhaps I missed something in the initial installation, I just
completed a fresh install on the same machine, but it appears there is no
opportunity to enter the product key during the installation process. So,
I
can't enter the supplied key at installation, and I can't seem to change
it
after installation either. Very frustrating.

The role of the 2008 Server machine is just as a server (not a domain
controller), on which I will be running the Faculty Connection versions of
SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition and VS 2008 Team Foundation Server. I
had
not planned to set up my own domain or DNS. My goal is to (a) to learn
enough about Team System in Windows Server 2008 to speak to my students
about
it intelligently, and (b) to incorporate Team System scenarios into my
classroom demos. So, in theory, my needs are very simple.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? Has anyone found a resolution?

Thanks.

- kg1


.

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