Backup File Server to DAS

IT-ADMIN

You asked about restoring your backup onto an identical server, that too could trigger a re-authorization prompt.

All those things said, you weren't worried about them yesterday, I wouldn't be worried about them today (and by you I mean your company).

I'd do the P2V following the general steps I mentioned above. The worst that happens is you spent some hours and gained the knowledge that it wouldn't work.. .but at best, you've migrated everything to a VM, and freed up a server for something else.

thank you very much for your clarification

Dashrender

@JaredBusch said:

@Dashrender every single P2V i have ever done has caused Windows to drop its authentic status and require reactivation. I have never seen it stay activated.

OK - I've only done one, about 8 years ago.. so I just don't recall.

IT-ADMIN

@JaredBusch said:

@Dashrender every single P2V i have ever done has caused Windows to drop its authentic status and require reactivation. I have never seen it stay activated.

i get shocked, my dream to visualize is broken

JaredBusch

@IT-ADMIN said:

@JaredBusch said:

@Dashrender every single P2V i have ever done has caused Windows to drop its authentic status and require reactivation. I have never seen it stay activated.

i get shocked, my dream to visualize is broken

Are you servers licensed now? I thought they were. I thought it was only your desktop stuff that was not licensed.
There is no reason the key should fail to reactivate on the new (virtual) hardware.

Dashrender

@IT-ADMIN said:

i get shocked, my dream to visualize is broken

FYI, it's virtualize, not visualize I'm guessing your browser's spell check doesn't know the word. you need to add it.

IT-ADMIN

@Dashrender said:

@IT-ADMIN said:

i get shocked, my dream to visualize is broken

FYI, it's virtualize, not visualize I'm guessing your browser's spell check doesn't know the word. you need to add it.

hhhhh yes you are right, my auto-corrector doesn't know virtualize

IT-ADMIN

@JaredBusch said:

@IT-ADMIN said:

@JaredBusch said:

@Dashrender every single P2V i have ever done has caused Windows to drop its authentic status and require reactivation. I have never seen it stay activated.

i get shocked, my dream to visualize is broken

Are you servers licensed now? I thought they were. I thought it was only your desktop stuff that was not licensed.
There is no reason the key should fail to reactivate on the new (virtual) hardware.

unfortunately i don't have the windows server 2008 R2 key, when i start working in this company i found 2 windows servers that are activated but i don't have the key
so i think there is no chance to activate the V again

JaredBusch

@IT-ADMIN said:

@JaredBusch said:

@IT-ADMIN said:

@JaredBusch said:

@Dashrender every single P2V i have ever done has caused Windows to drop its authentic status and require reactivation. I have never seen it stay activated.

i get shocked, my dream to visualize is broken

Are you servers licensed now? I thought they were. I thought it was only your desktop stuff that was not licensed.
There is no reason the key should fail to reactivate on the new (virtual) hardware.

unfortunately i don't have the windows server 2008 R2 key, when i start working in this company i found 2 windows servers that are activated but i don't have the key
so i think there is no chance to activate the V again

save this as displaykey.vbs and then double click on it.

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
MsgBox ConvertToKey(WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId"))

Function ConvertToKey(Key)
Const KeyOffset = 52
i = 28
Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789"
Do
Cur = 0
x = 14
Do
Cur = Cur * 256
Cur = Key(x + KeyOffset) + Cur
Key(x + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255
Cur = Cur Mod 24
x = x -1
Loop While x >= 0
i = i -1
KeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & KeyOutput
If (((29 - i) Mod 6) = 0) And (i <> -1) Then
i = i -1
KeyOutput = "-" & KeyOutput
End If
Loop While i >= 0
ConvertToKey = KeyOutput
End Function

JaredBusch

I would still test a P2V in such a way that your current server could still be turned back on in case it does not activate.

IT-ADMIN

so i will past this in a text file and save as displaykey.vbs and run it on my server, isn't it ??

DustinB3403

@IT-ADMIN Yes.

IT-ADMIN

@JaredBusch said:

I would still test a P2V in such a way that your current server could still be turned back on in case it does not activate.

can i run this on my windows 7 for trial, because i'm fear this script would do something on the server

IT-ADMIN

it is still production time

DustinB3403

@IT-ADMIN Yeah you can attempt the P2V on any system you have so you know how it is performed.

Ideally running it on your servers should only be done once you're comfortable doing that.

dafyre

@DustinB3403 -- Will that script work on any version of WIndows for the most part?

@IT-ADMIN -- You can run it on Windows 7 and see. That script doesn't actually change any thing on your computer. It just looks at some stuff in the registry and does some math things to get the key out.

Dashrender

@IT-ADMIN said:

it is still production time

Yes you can run this on Windows 7 first.

all this script does is pull the cd key from the computer and convert it back into the key that was typed in during install.

JaredBusch

@dafyre said:

@DustinB3403 -- Will that script work on any version of WIndows for the most part?

It works on any version of Windows I have ever ran it on. Vista, 7, 8, and 10

Note: Windows 10 upgraded devices all use the same fake key. So there is no point in running it on Windows 10 unless it was installed with its own key.

IT-ADMIN

wow, i run it on my Win 7, it shows me the key

Dashrender

yep, now do that on your server and you'll have the key.

IT-ADMIN

wait i will run the script on the server and tell you the result