Activation Problem with Windows Server 2008 Standard

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

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" <> wrote in message
news:ABD5F960-6771-48E1-B15A-...
> 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

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" <> wrote in message
> news:ABD5F960-6771-48E1-B15A-...
> > 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
>
>

KG,
Asking or not asking for the key at install is just a question of whether it
has a trial key or not. Even when it asks for a key you don't need to supply
it. It is not significant in whether your key works. All 2008 "media"
versions are the same, and you can change between any type of key.
If you provide a key to activate that you think is supposed to work and it
fails you really can only ask MS Licensing to resolve it,
Hope that helps,
Anthony
http://www.airdesk.com



"kg1" <> wrote in message
news:E8C5B7C5-6BDF-4E4A-A5BA-...
> 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" <> wrote in message
>> news:ABD5F960-6771-48E1-B15A-...
>> > 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
>>
>>

Okay, thanks for the advice. I was operating under the assumption (based on
what the Faculty Connection people told me via e-mail and what it says on
their download page) that the Faculty Connection disc ISO download for this
product was set up to require the supplied activation code during install.
This is clearly not the case. I will follow up with MS to resolve. Thanks
again for your input and for your patience.


"Anthony [MVP]" wrote:

> KG,
> Asking or not asking for the key at install is just a question of whether it
> has a trial key or not. Even when it asks for a key you don't need to supply
> it. It is not significant in whether your key works. All 2008 "media"
> versions are the same, and you can change between any type of key.
> If you provide a key to activate that you think is supposed to work and it
> fails you really can only ask MS Licensing to resolve it,
> Hope that helps,
> Anthony
> http://www.airdesk.com
>
>
>
> "kg1" <> wrote in message
> news:E8C5B7C5-6BDF-4E4A-A5BA-...
> > 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" <> wrote in message
> >> news:ABD5F960-6771-48E1-B15A-...
> >> > 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
> >>
> >>
>

I have the resolution of this issue, in case anyone else is having similar
problems activating the Faculty Connection version of Windows Server 2008
Standard.

It turns out that the activation key supplied at download will only work if
you've installed Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition. If you're
installing Standard Edition, you need to obtain a different key. Microsoft
Support supplied the Standard key for me, after they figured out why the
Facutly Connection supplied key wouldn't work. It appears that Faculty
Connection also has a key available for Standard Edition, if you ask them for
it.

Also note that, if you've installed Datacenter Edition from this disc image,
(at the time of this writing, 7/26/09) neither Microsoft Support nor Faculty
Connection will supply an activation key for it. So, your choices are
Enterprise Edition (using the key supplied at download time after you've
installed), Standard Edition (using a different key, supplied by Support or
by Faculty Connection by contacting them), or Datacenter Edition (which will
not activate and will time out in 60 days).

Hope this helps.

That's good info, thanks for sharing,
Anthony
http://www.airdesk.com


"kg1" <> wrote in message
news:5E77DF84-4D62-4A0B-8D1E-...
> I have the resolution of this issue, in case anyone else is having similar
> problems activating the Faculty Connection version of Windows Server 2008
> Standard.
>
> It turns out that the activation key supplied at download will only work
> if
> you've installed Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition. If you're
> installing Standard Edition, you need to obtain a different key.
> Microsoft
> Support supplied the Standard key for me, after they figured out why the
> Facutly Connection supplied key wouldn't work. It appears that Faculty
> Connection also has a key available for Standard Edition, if you ask them
> for
> it.
>
> Also note that, if you've installed Datacenter Edition from this disc
> image,
> (at the time of this writing, 7/26/09) neither Microsoft Support nor
> Faculty
> Connection will supply an activation key for it. So, your choices are
> Enterprise Edition (using the key supplied at download time after you've
> installed), Standard Edition (using a different key, supplied by Support
> or
> by Faculty Connection by contacting them), or Datacenter Edition (which
> will
> not activate and will time out in 60 days).
>
> Hope this helps.