Hi There, I'm a student at Swinburne TAFE and have access to dreamspark software. I have downloaded a copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 that I frequently use within VMWare. As I am often creating new images / new installations of Server 2008, I'm finding that I can no longer activate it. It seems that my serial key has been...black-listed from any further activations. Could someone assist me with this please? Regards, Mike

If your key has been activated the maximum number of times, the only solution is a new key. Talk to your academic staff. Bill

Hi, What's your version of your physical server? Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise/Datacenter? One Windows Server 2008 R2 Starndard could activate 1 VM server; One Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise could activate 4 VM servers; One Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter could activate VM servers; If you are running Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise version, it might have VM licensing limitations. So you might need to buy additional licensing keys to deal with the activation. On the affected VM client, please enter the following command in command prompt with evaluated rights: slmgr /dli slmgr /dlv And post back your findings. Regards, JamesJames Xiong TechNet Community Support

Hi, What's your version of your physical server? Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise/Datacenter? One Windows Server 2008 R2 Starndard could activate 1 VM server; One Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise could activate 4 VM servers; One Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter could activate VM servers; If you are running Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise version, it might have VM licensing limitations. So you might need to buy additional licensing keys to deal with the activation. On the affected VM client, please enter the following command in command prompt with evaluated rights: slmgr /dli slmgr /dlv And post back your findings. Regards, JamesJames Xiong TechNet Community Support