Wow, that's good to know. Thanks for the link. Does that mean after 180 days the system will start showing symptoms such as shutting down every 1 hour although a valid license key has been entered? Do you know if the same behavior applies to Exchange Server 2007 with SP3 at this location? I don't want my mail server shutdown every 1 hour after eval version expires. My guess is no it doesn't apply because that is not an eval version but I'd like to play it safe. Btw, I do have an Exchange Server 2007 license and a valid product key. Thanks again for your assistance.

I downloaded Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 evaluation version in June 2011 from the following site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ee175713.aspx The size is roughly 3GB. I now have purchased Windows Server 2008 R2 server license and registered the license at Microsoft VLSC site. There's an option to download Windows Server 2008 ISO image. The size is also about 3GB. Does anyone know if there is a difference between evaluation version and licensed download version? If they are the same I wouldn't want to waste my bandwidth and DVD media.

Hello, the evaluation version you can not use together with the official license, so you have to download the correct version and reinstall it.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Thanks for your quick reply. I just checked my evaluation installation. Under Windows Activation there's an option to Change product key. Can I just enter my 25-digit license number there and turn it into a licensed installation? I don't really want to give it a shot because I'm about to reformat the server and reinstall from scratch. I don't remember if I'm asked for a product key during evaluation setup process.

Hello, The Evaluation version contains a eval timer server, that is not removed if you change the product key. It remains an eval version. 2021579 Windows Server 2008 R2 evaluation version http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2021579 Question: Can you convert the evaluation version to a full version? Answer: Although it is not blocked, it is unsupported to upgrade to a full version or to change the product key to a full version. To upgrade to a full version, you must use non-evaluation media to do a new install. If you change the product key to Full Version the visual evaluation references in Winver and in displayed in Slmgr /DLV output are removed, however, the WLMS service is still on the system and this is still evaluation media.Thanks, Darrell Gorter [MSFT] This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. VAMT - Volume Activation Management Tool - Download link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ec7156d2-2864-49ee-bfcb-777b898ad582&displaylang=en