Using a KMS Server
KB ID 0000582 Problem Given the amount of deployments I do, it’s surprising that I don’t use KMS more often. Like most technical types, I find a way that works for me, and that’s the way I do things from then on. However these last few weeks I’ve been putting in a new infrastructure for a local secondary school. Their internet access is through a proxy server, that refuses to let Windows activation work....
SmoothWall – Allowing Windows Updates and Windows Activation
KB ID 0000441 Problem I’ve had fun this week installing a new virtual environment for a client with a SmoothWall firewall. It took a call to SmoothWall support for me to get Windows updates to work, then after activating a few 2008 R2 servers via phone, I was motivated to get online activation running as well. Windows Activation Error – (We are being blocked by the SmoothWall Proxy). A problem occurred when Windows tried...
Windows XP – Sysprep (for imaging)
KB ID 0000599 Problem A client who we recently did a WDS (Windows 7) install for, needed to image a couple of Windows XP machines, (They had some software that either would not run, or was not supported on Windows 7). They asked me for some documentation on how to do this, it’s been such a long time since I imaged any XP machine, so I took the opportunity to document it properly. Solution Before you begin, be aware you need to...
Activation Error: Code 0x8007232b DNS Name does not exist
KB ID 0000157 Problem Note: For a more modern version this post go here: Error: 0x8007232B DNS Name Does Not Exist Essentially this happens because you are using “volume licensed media” to install the operating system, and the machine is looking for a server on your network that runs the KMS Service (Key Management Service). You need to have a KMS server if you are activating more than 25 machines. However most of us only...
Change Windows Product Key Error ‘Unacceptable Character’
KB ID 0000812 Problem A very strange problem today? I was attempting to change the product key of a Windows 2008 R2 Server, I copied and pasted the code in, and this happened; I assumed I’d done something stupid, or there was some formatting in the text I had copied (from One Note). So I typed it in manually, every time I tried to enter the letter ‘n’ this happened? And when I copy pasted the code in it had removed...