Skip to main content

Restoring Windows server

Thread needs solution

I am in the process of installing 3 new servers in place of 3 old ones. My question is, once I restore the image to the new servers, how do I change the Windows product key to match the new products keys that were shipped with the new servers?

0 Users found this helpful

What version of Windows server is it? In 2008 simply enter system properties and chose change product key.

In older versions you just have to force activation wizard to run once again. (There are at least hundreds of tutorials how to do that) www.google.com/search.

But my guess is that after Windows is restored to different hardware it will detect it and ask for activation by itself.

I will be running Windows 2003 (domain, exchange, file server).

I just wanted to get all my ducks in a row before starting this so its a smooth transition *knocks on wood*.

Thanks for any and all help and comments.

Hello Chad,

Thank you for using [[http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/ | Acronis Corporate Products]]

The most regular issues with the Active Directory (AD) after the recovery and replication with other Domain Controllers are usually caused by Update Sequence Number (USN) rollback. In particular, because AD is a distributed system with time-expiring elements.

The recommended way of using Acronis Universal Restore to migrate Active Directory with Domain Controller to a new machine with dissimilar hardware is available in this article.

Thank you.