Having trouble with deploying a VMware Windows 2008 R2 Template and it failing to sysprep? It could be you’ve sysprep’d the template image too many times. Here’s the fix. Microsoft decided with 2008R2 and older OS’s that to help curb piracy you could only use sysprep to rearm the Windows activation counter 4 times. This is fine until you have a sysprep’d image that you want to maintain or if you inherit an image that has already used up it’s 4 rearms and you need to deploy a new server from the image. The official solution is to rebuild the image – which is fine because every image comes with a detailed rebuild guide, right? ? At least in Windows 2012 this problem has been mitigated as the rearm counter is now set at 1000. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a sneaky fix to reset the rearm counter? Well there is. Caveats Be warned you will need to re-enter your activation key and reactivate Windows using this process (not a big issue if you are using a KMS key). Windows Server 2008R2 Virtual Lab Activation strategies? You can prolong / reset the counter 3 times. Windows 2008 R2 — Generate new activation key for. Feb 22, 2011 Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on the award-winning. Installing Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Server 2008 R2. To reset the activation. May 11, 2011 Sysprep, SkipRearm, and Image Build Best. How many times you can reset activation on. Server 2008 R2 SP1. If you use KMS license activation. Type slmgr.vbs -dli, and then press ENTER to check the current status of your evaluation period. To reset the evaluation period, type slmgr.vbs –rearm, and then press ENTER. Restart the computer. You will also need to know the local administrator password of the server. The Fix To check the re-arm counter fire up the server (convert the template to a VM if necessary) and log in. From a command prompt run: slmgr.vbs /dlv Have a look at the re-arm counter value and confirm it is indeed zero (If it’s not zero you have another problem) Next, you need to jump through a few hoops to delete the activation product key. Use notepad to create a file which contains the following: reg load HKLM MY_SYSTEM “%~dp0Windows System32 config system” reg delete HKLM MY_SYSTEM WPA /f reg unload HKLM MY_SYSTEM Save it as a.bat file to the root of C: i.e. C: rearm.bat To run the.bat file you need to be in a recovery command prompt. To get there you need to: • Reboot the server and after the BIOS screen press F8 to get to the advanced boot options. • Select Repair Your Computer • Enter the local administrator credentials when required and choose to open a command prompt. (Alternatively, if you can’t see a Repair Your Computer option, boot from a 2008R2 DVD and choose the Repair your computer / Command Prompt options). Next you need to find your.bat file – note C: drive may now be on the D: due to how the disks are mounted in recovery mode. Switch between disks and use the DIR command to find your.bat file. Run your.bat file and then restart your computer. Your windows should now be in the activation grace period without a key and with the rearm count reset to 4. If you use KMS licensing follow for a guide on how to use slmgr to add the KMS key back into the registry using the command: slmgr.vbs /ipk I hope you find this one useful it certainly saved me a lot of effort as I didn’t need to rebuild multiple images just to add a few Windows updates! Applies to • Windows 10 • Windows 8.1 • Windows 8 • Windows 7 • Windows Server 2012 R2 • Windows Server 2012 • Windows Server 2008 R2 Looking for retail activation? • There are three possible scenarios for volume activation of Windows 10 or Windows Server 2012 R2 by using a Key Management Service (KMS) host: • Host KMS on a computer running Windows 10 • Host KMS on a computer running Windows Server 2012 R2 • Host KMS on a computer running an earlier version of Windows Check out. Key Management Service in Windows 10 Installing a KMS host key on a computer running Windows 10 allows you to activate other computers running Windows 10 against this KMS host and earlier versions of the client operating system, such as Windows 8.1 or Windows 7. Clients locate the KMS server by using resource records in DNS, so some configuration of DNS may be required. This scenario can be beneficial if your organization uses volume activation for clients and MAK-based activation for a smaller number of servers. To enable KMS functionality, a KMS key is installed on a KMS host; then, the host is activated over the Internet or by phone using Microsoft’s activation services. Configure KMS in Windows 10 • Open an elevated command prompt. • Enter one of the following commands. • To install a KMS key, type slmgr.vbs /ipk. • To activate online, type slmgr.vbs /ato. • To activate by using the telephone, type slui.exe 4. • After activating the KMS key, restart the Software Protection Service. For more information, see the information for Windows 7 in. Key Management Service in Windows Server 2012 R2 Installing a KMS host key on a computer running Windows Server allows you to activate computers running Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Sever 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Note You cannot install a client KMS key into the KMS in Windows Server. This scenario is commonly used in larger organizations that do not find the overhead of using a server a burden. Note If you receive error 0xC004F015 when trying to activate Windows 10 Enterprise, see. Configure KMS in Windows Server 2012 R2 • Sign in to a computer running Windows Server 2012 R2 with an account that has local administrative credentials. • Launch Server Manager. • Add the Volume Activation Services role, as shown in Figure 4. Adding the Volume Activation Services role in Server Manager • When the role installation is complete, click the link to launch the Volume Activation Tools (Figure 5). Launching the Volume Activation Tools • Select the Key Management Service (KMS) option, and specify the computer that will act as the KMS host (Figure 6). This can be the same computer on which you installed the role or another computer. For example, it can be a client computer running Windows 10. Configuring the computer as a KMS host • Install your KMS host key by typing it in the text box, and then click Commit (Figure 7). Installing your KMS host key • If asked to confirm replacement of an existing key, click Yes. • After the product key is installed, you must activate it. Click Next (Figure 8). Activating the software The KMS key can be activated online or by phone. See Figure 9. Choosing to activate online Now that the KMS host is configured, it will begin to listen for activation requests. However, it will not activate clients successfully until the activation threshold is met. Verifying the configuration of Key Management Service You can verify KMS volume activation from the KMS host server or from the client computer. KMS volume activation requires a minimum threshold of 25 computers before activation requests will be processed. The verification process described here will increment the activation count each time a client computer contacts the KMS host, but unless the activation threshold is reached, the verification will take the form of an error message rather than a confirmation message. Note If you configured Active Directory-based activation before configuring KMS activation, you must use a client computer that will not first try to activate itself by using Active Directory-based activation. You could use a workgroup computer that is not joined to a domain or a computer running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. To verify that KMS volume activation works, complete the following steps: • On the KMS host, open the event log and confirm that DNS publishing is successful. • On a client computer, open a Command Prompt window, type Slmgr.vbs /ato, and then press ENTER. The /ato command causes the operating system to attempt activation by using whichever key has been installed in the operating system. The response should show the license state and detailed Windows version information. • On a client computer or the KMS host, open an elevated Command Prompt window, type Slmgr /dlv, and then press ENTER. The /dlv command displays the detailed licensing information. The response should return an error that states that the KMS activation count is too low. This confirms that KMS is functioning correctly, even though the client has not been activated. For more information about the use and syntax of slmgr.vbs, see. Key Management Service in earlier versions of Windows If you have already established a KMS infrastructure in your organization for an earlier version of Windows, you may want to continue using that infrastructure to activate computers running Windows 10 or Windows Server 2012 R2. Your existing KMS host must be running Windows 7 or later. To upgrade your KMS host, complete the following steps: • Download and install the correct update for your current KMS host operating system. Restart the computer as directed. • Request a new KMS host key from the Volume Licensing Service Center. • Install the new KMS host key on your KMS host. • Activate the new KMS host key by running the slmrg.vbs script. For detailed instructions, see and. See also • Not finding content you need? Windows 10 users, tell us what you want on.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2018
Categories |