Windows 2008 licensing - reinstall in VirtualBox

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When I install Windows 2008 server in Oracle's VirtualBox, and I need to re-install either or both, is there going to be a problem re-activating the Windows server? Must the VirtualBox version be the same? I would use the W2k08 install as the PDC for home and a WSUS, no other roles - any issues regarding that? Thanks!

Edit: Or, right after a basic config and activation of the Windows server should I use a snapshot, or save/export the VM and drop back to it when I need to? WSUS is the real important reason for the server, and I am not sure if this would make sense considering the amount of data involved. I am not a Windows expert, and so far I somehow managed to mess up every install I made with the eval versions.

arch-abit

Posted 2014-10-24T11:29:20.783

Reputation: 455

Answers

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We believe that you like to know whether you will loss the windows license if either reinstalling Virtual box or windows server. You can try two options before doing this: You can de-activate server license of the virtual machine windows server 2008 before uninstalling Oracle virtual box. So that the server 2008 becomes a trail license and the de-activated license can be used after you rebuild the server 2008 again. Please find the below steps to de-activate the license from the server 2008:

Click Start, type: CMD Right click CMD Click Run as administrator At the command prompt, type: slmgr.vbs -upk Hit Enter, this will uninstall the product key from the computer and set it back to trial mode, you are now free to use it on another computer. If you encounter any problems, try activating by telephone:

The other way, while uninstalling Virtual box, possibly you will get a popup box stating that, whether you need to have the virtual machine (windows server 2008) profile settings to be retained or not. By choosing the option 'Yes', would keep the profile and license information's. So that, once you rebuild the virtual box with the server 2008 guest machine, the license and user profile can be restored automatically. Please try this as well.

Hope this helps.

vembutech

Posted 2014-10-24T11:29:20.783

Reputation: 5 693

Yes, I am going to try these with a Win7 license first, I have one but never activated it yet, so far I work with evals. I am also building the system around 2xRAID 1 with one identical spare on hand, so after activating the software I am going to pull one of the disks from the RAID and rebuild with the spare. When all else failed that should positively restore the licenses.

Thanks! – arch-abit – 2014-10-24T17:55:34.973

Asked: 2014-10-24T11:29:20.783

Viewed: 331 times

Active: 2014-10-24T15:29:18.683