Windows Activation Popup After Migration

[shannonadams]

I migrated from a physical server running Windows 2003 Server to a VM last night. After some minor clean up, the new VM is running fine except for the annoying "Windows Activation - xx days left for Activation" popup.

After the migration, I realized that the MS license of the physical server was OEM and that the online/telephone MS activation process was not going to work. I tried rebooting from W2k3 ISO and perform a repair, but when booting from the CD - it can not find any hard drives. The suggestion was made to change the scsi controller from Buslogic to LSI logic in another post. However, when I press F6 to select SCSI drivers, it wants me to insert a disk in drive A. I tried adding SMBIOS.reflectHost = “TRUE” to the .vmx configuration of the new VM, but that didn't fix it.

I am not sure what to do now. I spent hours bouncing around MS support and got no where. I am not sure what the best option is at this point. One possible option I was about to attempt is to power down the VM and bring the physical server back up. Then, I would change the OEM license to a new non-OEM license. If that takes it without complaining, I would then do the migration again. I would appreciate any suggestions. It has been a long day

Thanks,

Shannon

[ctfoster]

During the repair you are going to have to hit f6 and load up the VMWare SCSI drivers to allow it to see the discs. You can download the drivers off the vmware web site. I have a set saved as a flp file on the server for this reason and set it up as drive A on the reboot.

[Troy_Clavell · Accepted solution]

you can also try this, found at http://vmware-land.com/Vmware_Tips.html#VM3 to force your W2K3 VM to use LSI

• Power off the VM you want to change controllers on

• Connect to the Service Console and edit the vmx file for the VM

• Add the following lines to the vmx file o scsi1.present = "true" o scsi1.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

• Power on the VM and it will discover the new SCSI card

• Power off the VM and edit the SCSI Controller settings, change the type to LSI Logic

• Power VM back on, answer Yes for the adapter change message

• Once it boots successfully shut the VM down again (it will have to LSI controllers at this point)

• Edit the vmx file and remove the lines you added above

• Power on the VM again and you will be all set

[TomHowarth]

first during the repair process you will have press F6 to insert an new disk drive. this must be loaded as flp file in your floppy drive. once this has been done you can run restore as you normally would.

I have attached a copy of the Bus logic dirver for your to use

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

[shannonadams]

Thanks to everyone. I was able to change the SCSI controller, do a repair on Windows, and then enter a non OEM license. Everything is working now. What a day!