Windows Activation still required even if restoring virtual server on same hardware

[hongning123]

Hello hopefully somebody can answer this.

Our virtual machine is running vmware server ESX 3i 3.5.0  It has 2 hard drives, datastore1 and datastore2.   All our virtual servers are stored in datastore2.   Our hard drive containing datastore2 crashed and it had to be replaced.    We have virtual appliance backups of our virtual servers in datastore2.  

To fix the issue we replaced the crashed hard disk, and then restored using the virtual appliance backups, once restored we noticed that the Windows 2008 is requiring license activation.

My question is why does windows need activation when we restored the virtual server to the same hardware? The only thing that changed was the  hard disk.

Thanks for any help on this question.

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

to find out what exactly triggers the reactivation, you may need to ask Microsoft. Anyway, you may want to check whether your backup application restored the VM with a different UUID and MAC address, which could be a reason for this behavior!?

André

[hongning123]

I used the Vmware Infrastructure Client to restore the backup.  I did is File -> Virtual Appliance -> Import.   I thought using this method will maintain the same MAC address

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately exporting/importing OVFs doesn't have an option (at least I'm not aware of it) to maintain such settings. What you may do is - when exporting the VM as an OVF - also download the VM's .vmx and .vmxf files. After re-importing the OVF, remove it from the ESXi host's inventory, upload the two *.vmx* files and add the VM back to the inventory. Then - once asked whether you copied or moved the VM on the first power on - select "I moved it".

André

[hongning123]

Thanks for the info, but how do you download the vmx and vmxf files.  How can you access them?  Thanks

[a_p_]

You can up- and download files using the Datastore Browser. To access it select the ESXi host in the VI client's inventory, go to the Configuration tab, and right click the appropriate datastore. From there select "Browse Datastore...".

André

[hongning123]

Thank you very much for the help, I just want to make sure of the step

when you say to upload the vmx and vmxf file, is it correct that I should delete the vmx and vmxf file from the restored OVF directory before uploading?

Also when you say add VM back to inventory, do you mean right click the vmx file and say Add to Inventory?

Thanks

[a_p_]

when you say to upload the vmx and vmxf file, is it correct that I should delete the vmx and vmxf file from the restored OVF directory before uploading?

Uploading the files will overwrite existing files, so you don't need to delete them manually.

Also when you say add VM back to inventory, do you mean right click the vmx file and say Add to Inventory?

Yes, that's the easiest way to add a VM to the inventory.

André