Change Volume Licensing product key for windows 2003 server or R2

At some point you may want to change the product key of your windows 2003 server OEM version with a VLK key.

This can be done with two major steps:
1. Determine the channel that your copy of Windows Server 2003 was obtained through
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889713/en-us
2. Change the Volume Licensing product key


Part 1. Determine the channel that your copy of Windows Server 2003 was obtained through

About Product IDs
All Windows Server 2003 products require the end user to type a Product Key during installation. A unique Product ID (PID) is generated when you run the Windows Server 2003 Setup program. After the Product Key is validated in the Setup program, the Setup program builds the 20-digit PID. The PID is assigned to the computer.
A PID contains the following information:
The first five characters of the PID indicate the Microsoft Product Code (MPC).
The three characters after the MPC indicate the channel ID.

To find your current PID:
Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
On the General tab, the PID appears in the Registered to box.

Some MPC codes for Windows Server 2003
Standard Edition 32 bit retail, 69712-000
Standard Edition 32 bit volume licensing, 69712-640
Standard Edition R2, 32 bit volume licensing, 69712-650
Standard Edition 32 bit OEM, 69712-OEM
Enterprise Edition 32 bit retail, 69713-000
Enterprise Edition 32 bit volume licensing, 69713-640
Enterprise Edition R2, 32 bit volume licensing, 69713-650
Enterprise Edition 32 bit OEM, 69713-OEM

More MPC codes please refer to MS KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889713/en-us


Part 2: change Volume Licensing product key for windows 2003
From part 1 you know what you currently have, then you can change it to the correct VL Key.

KB article 328874 explains how to do it for XP, the good news is, same method works for any version of 2003. So check this out:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328874

Here are the steps:

Deactivate Windows

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents
In the topic pane, right-click OOBETimer, and then click Modify.
Change at least one digit of this value to deactivate Windows.

Reactivate Windows and add new product key

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type the following command, and then click OK.
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a
Click Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows, and then click Next.
Click Change Product key.
Type the new product key in the New key boxes, and then click Update.If you are returned to the previous window, click Remind me later, and then restart the computer.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 to verify that Windows is activated. You receive the following message:
Windows is already activated. Click OK to exit.
Click OK.

Setup network from Microsoft Virtual server 2005 R2

Setup network from Microsoft Virtual server 2005 R2

You can configure NAT on the host machine to share your local network with guest virtual machines so that they can be access Internet.With network address translation (NAT), you can configure one or more virtual machines to share the host operating system's Internet connection, as shown in the following table.
1.Install Microsoft Loopback Adapter on the host operating system
2.Enable Internet Connection Sharing on the physical network adapter that is connected to the Internet. Configure ICS so that the physical network adapter shares the connection with Microsoft Loopback Adapter.
3.Create a virtual network and configure it to use Microsoft Loopback Adapter
4.Connect one or more virtual machines to the virtual network that is configured to use Microsoft Loopback Adapter

DHCP server must be in the reserved IP list.An example:1. Host pc setting:Physical NIC: Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NICIP: 192.168.10.6subnet: 255.255.255.0Gateway: 192.168.10.1 DNS: 192.168.10.1
MS Loopback adapter is installed on the host pc. ICS is enabled on physical NIC and shares the connection with the loopback adapter.Loopback adapter IP: 192.168.0.1 (leave "default gateway" blank)
2. Guest virtual pc settingVirtual network setting:Start IP: 192.168.0.20End IP: 192.168.0.200DHCP server: 192.168.0.2Default gateway: 192.168.0.1
Note:a. You must leave 16 address as system reserved.For example, if your virtual network is 192.168.0.0, then the first available DHCP IP is 192.168.0.17.b. The virtual DHCP server's IP address must within the reserved IP range.

IE7.0 compatibility issue with IE8.0

Problem:

When use Virtual server admin web console, got error:

Message: 'document.getElementById(...)' is null or not an object

Reason:

IE8 seems to have some trouble to work normally with the js controls of Virtual Server 2005, but you can easily make it work by choosing IE8 to work in IE7 compatibility mode.

Just aside to the url you should have a button that seems like a "broken sheet of paper". Click on that and you will be in IE7 compatibility mode, and everything will work fine with Virtual Server.

A nice music blog

http://wuhuiyu1983.blogbus.com/

ConfigMgr 2007: The Preload Package Tool (PreloadPkgOnSite.exe) Explained

ConfigMgr 2007: The Preload Package Tool (PreloadPkgOnSite.exe) Explained

http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/archive/2009/05/07/configmgr-2007-the-preload-package-tool-preloadpkgonsite-exe-explained.aspx

How do we refresh a package located on a Branch Distribution Point?

http://blogs.technet.com/carlossantiago/archive/2008/05/16/how-do-we-refresh-a-package-located-on-a-branch-distribution-point.aspx

The short answer is, we can't. That does not mean that we don't have a way to update that package on the Branch Distribution Point (BDP), it just means that we can't refresh them. In SCCM refreshing vs. updating a package has different meanings. When we run the Manage Distribution Points Wizard and select the option to refresh a package on distribution points, we are asking the Distribution Manager service to use the existing compressed version of the package and extract it to the specified distribution points. This is true unless we used the always obtain files from source option on the package properties. When we select the option to update a package, we are asking Distribution Manager to get the files from the source directory, create a new compressed version of the package, possibly send the compressed version to child sites, and then extract the new version to the distribution points. If you are wondering when should we use a refresh vs. an update think about the following scenarios:
Scenario #1
There is a central site in your headquarters office (NY) with primary child sites on remote offices. Software packages are created on the central site. There is a slow WAN connection between the central site and the child sites. One of the child sites is in Dallas and has distribution points in Dallas, Austin, and Houston. There is a hard drive failure on the Houston distribution point and a new hard drive is installed. There is no backup of the hard drive that was replaced since it only contained SCCM packages.

Scenario #2
There is a central site in your headquarters office (NY) with primary child sites on remote offices. Software packages are created on the central site. There is a slow WAN connection between the central site and the child sites. One of the child sites is in Dallas and has distribution points in Dallas, Austin, and Houston. The signature files for the antivirus application used by the company got updated. We updated the package source files and now need to get those files to the distribution points.
In Scenario #1, we could use the refresh package on the Houston distribution point option. The central site server will send an instruction to distribution manager on the Dallas site to extract the local compressed version of the package to the Houston distribution point. This will save time and traffic across the WAN link. In Scenario #2, we need to get new files for a package to the distribution points. In that case we need a new version of the compressed package to be sent over the WAN to the child sites. Distribution Manager on the Dallas child site will get the new compressed package and will then extract it to its local distribution point and the the ones in Austin and Houston.
The above is a very simplified explanation of what happens behind the scenes and I am not going to get in the details of delta replication. That is because this blog is about BDPs, so lets get back on track. If we run the Manage Distribution Points Wizard the first thing we are going to find out if we try to refresh a package on a BDP is that they are not listed in the Wizard. There is no refresh option for the BDPs because distribution manager does not handle packages on BDPs. The BDP role is a client side role. The BDP gets machine policies that tell the client what packages to download and share. Let say that in scenarios #1 and #2 the Houston distribution point is a BDP. In that case the refresh will not work obviously because it is not an option in the admin console. On scenario #1, to get the packages back on the Houston BDP we would have to use update option. On scenario #2, we would also get the new signature files to the Houston BDP by selecting to update the package on the distribution points.

SCCm package distribution

When you refresh package data on a Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 distribution point, the package is copied from the compressed version on the site server but not updated from the original source.

Refreshing the package does not increment the package version.

Updating the distribution point will copy files from the source folder, thus incrementing the package version

List of VHDs on Microsoft VHD Test Drive site

This is where you can download pre-built Virtual Hard Disks, containing Microsoft OS’s and Server Applications like Exchange 2007.
Windows Server 2008 Standard Ed. x86 (full install)
Windows Server 2008 Standard Ed. x64 (full install)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Ed. x86 (full install)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Ed. x64 (full install)
Windows Server 2008 Standard Ed. x86 (core install)
Windows Server 2008 Standard Ed. x64 (core install)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Ed. x86 (core install)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Ed. x64 (core install)
Exchange Server 2007 SP1
Windows Server 2003 R2
System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2
Office SharePoint Server 2007
Forefront codename "Stirling"
System Center Essentials 2007 SP1
Windows Vista

All of the Windows Server 2008 VHDs are designed for Hyper-V, so you’ll need to run them on that platform. Exchange Server, Windows Server 2003 and below (on the list) are designed for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, and the Vista VHD is designed for Virtual PC 2007.