We are going to be starting our yearly disaster recovery, so right now we are running tests. What we are doing is taking an image of the computer and turning it into a virtual machine. We are using symantec backup exec and VMWare server on windows server 2003 SP2. So far i got as far as starting up the machine on the vmware software. The only issue i am having now is, when i go to start up the server, i can only get to safemode because i need to active. Well, when i go to activate it say's its not a genuine product key. Which i know for a fact that it is. Why i think it might be doing this is because when we got the servers it had SP1 and now it has SP2. I called MS help line which they have to get back to me within 8 hrs..... which if this was a disaster this would be a big no no and would want me to move away from MS software. If anyone know's a way to activate the product or a MS number that can activate this product directly. Because "if this was a disaster recovery" and i have to wait 8 hr for them to get back to me i would have losts a full days of work!

I think that the problem may have to do with the hardware change - when a machine is activated, it looks at the hardware, and if it's changed too much, it needs to activate again. Doing a P2V makes the hardware very different and requires activation again. When we build a new machine, we're given so much time to activate the OS before it disables itself - it looks like that is what's happening here.

Hello,hopefully your servers are NOT domain controllers. There an image is a NOT supported way of backup. They result in USN rollbacks. Normally in the activation window you have the option to choose the telephone way for activation.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi, Its not supported to restore a physical machine directly to Virtual machine. If youre using VMWare software, please contact VMWare support to get the correct operations to convert a physical machine to Virtual Machines. Its also suggested to call Microsoft Activation Center to activate your system. Microsoft Activation Centers Worldwide Telephone Numbers http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/vol/numbers.mspx Thanks. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.