IT Improvements Have Hit A Problem, Advice Anyone?

[Davek0974]

Hi all

ok so my self educated advancement into the realms of virtualisation have just about ground to a halt and i'm now bashing my head against the wall and downing large volumes of headache pills.

All was going well, i have setup a 2008r2 RDS host and an XP box with USB dongles as well, both are running perfectly, i was on a roll.

I have one more XP box and our 2003sbs domain controller to VM, this is where i hit trouble, it turns out that BOTH machines are running on OEM installed O/S's and these will not virtualise due to the licensing being OEM. The process works well until boot time where they get locked into a log-in, restart loop and refuse to boot.

I have trashed many XP cloned VM's (i love this virtual stuff now) in trying to get a working setup but no luck. My lastest resort was to do a windows backup and restore it into a new VM, but that just left a broken VM again.

Fresh installs of either box are pretty much out of the question for various reasons.

So, does anyone know how i can circumvent this problem and move on, I am now getting desperate???

This situation also reinforces my long-standing quote that backing up windows is a waste of time because you can never use it again so why bother. It should be a simple matter to backup and restore into a new fresh install surely?

Maybe better backup software??

And no, i cant disk-image as that just brings the OEM locks with it.

I have tried using the registration wizard and getting a new key but that also fails.

I have not contacted Microsoft yet.

Do i have ANY options here or are we doomed to lose the company when the server fails eventually??

And yes we have been making backups for years but whats the point if they fail when needed?

I am viewing this scenario as a disaster recovery test and so far we are four days into the disaster with NO SERVER AND NO WORK being done, so i am appearing to be a failure.

Any help guys??


Thanks
Dave

 

[Posilan]

Hi Dave,

There is a way to get it to work, the main issue is that will almost certainly not be properly licensed for it. I can offer you the following information for "educational" purposes only.

What it sounds like it that you are using BIOS locked versions of the XP and SBS2003 OEM software that the larger manufacturers used to use (rather than the normal OEM CD's that you could get).

Because of this, they check the licence key against the SLIC table on the BIOS to see if it's licensed to run.

Now, I believe some people patch the VMWARE virtual bios file with the correct SLIC table for the OEM so the OS sees it as the manufacturers BIOS rather than a VMWARE BIOS (bios440.filename = in the VMX config file - you should be able to activate ssh on ESXi, shell in and vi the file).

Once done, windows should see it's licensed and boot fine.

However, you will almost certainly not be "legal" if you do this as OEM licences are attached to the physical hardware - even if visualised should be on the same hardware. Virtualised SBS2003 does work fine, however it's not "supported" by Microsoft.

As for backups, once using VM's - we use Windows Backup for those "oops i deleted a file" issues and ESXi snapshots for full backups/DR tests (far better!).

Steve

 

[Davek0974]

Ok, thanks


how would i get the correct SLIC data to enter into the file?

As for licensing, i have no worries about upgrading ONCE we have a running and verified VM as it can be easily replaced if trashed, unlike the main server. As this will be a paid upgrade we should be legal again no??

Dave

 

[Posilan]

Ok, thanks


how would i get the correct SLIC data to enter into the file?

As for licensing, i have no worries about upgrading ONCE we have a running and verified VM as it can be easily replaced if trashed, unlike the main server. As this will be a paid upgrade we should be legal again no??

Dave

You will probably find the right patched BIOS file if you Google for it

I don't think there is any upgrade path possible for SBS2003 to SBS2011 (it's 64 bit only) - you *have* to migrate.

Personally I would do a migration from your physical SBS2003 to an new VM of SBS2011 - MS provide migration tools to make the job easier and you won't be doubling up on the work. Just take a Ghost image of the SBS 2003 box before you start in case you do mess up, then you can always revert back.

There is an excellent guide to the migration process here:

http://demazter.wordpress.com/2011/...ss-server-2003-to-small-business-server-2011/

Steve

 

[Davek0974]

(bios440.filename = in the VMX config file -

Steve

BTW that line does not appear in the vmx file????



Dave

 

[Davek0974]

Also, if we migrate, will our 2003 CALS still be valid or is this going to break the bank again on licenses???

thanks

DAVE

 

[Posilan]

BTW that line does not appear in the vmx file????



Dave

Hi Dave,

If you Google "esxi 5 bios slic" it should give you some pointers

 

[Davek0974]

A bit of good news at last.

Against my normal train of thought, I rang Microsoft and went through the activation wizard with them. I had tried this before but missed out one step.

On the activation wizard screen thee is a button marked "generate new I'd" enter the oem activation code off the dell box label, press the button and it will generate a new I'd code which is then typed into the Microsoft phone system or in my case given to the guy in the phone, they will then read back another long number which goes into the wizard screen, press next and fingers crossed up comes the server vm

To say I was relieved is an understatement

I then setup a micro network (couldnt risk putting two identical DC's on the same domain) with the ESXi box and my workstation to verify that sql server and the logins were functioning ok which they were, it even seemed slighty faster too.

The final stage will be to take a fresh backup of the SQL data and restore that into SQL server so we are fully up to date. I dontthink anything else that matters will have changed on the server over the last few days, no logins have been altered, no printers added, we don't use exchange.

As for the XP box well I think I have been beaten by that one, the dell server seems to have been standard OEM but the XP box seems to be hardware-locked OEM so despite trying a few more times, there is no activation screen to attempt reactivation so I am throwing in the towel and attempting a fresh install of the two apps it runs, luckily BT can help with one but the other I will have to muddle through, at least I have found the original install media.

Thanks to Posilan again for the help, we will be migrating as soon as possible to 2011sbs but as this whole project was based on money saving etc, not having to splash the cash right now is a great blessing, will let you know.


Dave



Btw as Microsoft helped me do this, after a full explanation, does this mean it is all legal and above board? Just a thought.

 

[wilwong1971]

Hi Dave

Late to the party, glad you got it all working

Microsoft is very ahem, flexible when it comes to licencing, lthough technically you are in violation of EULA Microsoft support don't really enforce this very much. I have had occasions when I did a Vista downgrade to XP for our Client machines, and was puzzled why the call centre did not require me to offer proof of purchase/COA for the copy of Vista, in essence, I might have never bought a copy of Vista, called MS and blagged myself an activation code for XP

As to your BIOS locked activation issue on a cloned XP, One of my colleagues in my old company ran an XP repair with a non OEM windows XP disk and managed to re activate the P2Ved machine, worth a go?

 

[Davek0974]

Thanks Wil, I have trashed a total of six xp vm clones trying to fix this one, I did the repair option too.

Nothing seems to have the power to override this oem lock, the SLIC fix might work but is beyond my knowledge base at present.

Dave