I downloaded the Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Suite Evaluation from this link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=2C6DB4F3-B604-461F-9170-43E9CEE062C5&displaylang=en and in there it states that the product key that I am supposed to use is: "When asked for a product key use: YQGMW-MPWTJ-34KDK-48M3W-X4Q6V" I was able to enter that in and it was able to proceed with the installation without issue, however when attempting to activate the Windows, it gives an error code: 0xC004C00D; with a description of: The activation server determined the license is invalid. The key is published by Microsoft and I found it via a google search for "windows server 2008 hpc download" and it is the first result, dated 31 Oct 2008. It also stated that there would be emails sent to my email address with additional HPC resources, and therein lies also another key, that does NOT work for either installation OR activation. I was hoping to be able to evaluate this product for a period of upto 180 days (based on the documentation and research that I have found via Microsoft's website), but since the automatic activation attempts start in 3 days, it severely and dramatically reduces the amount of time I have to test and make sure that Windows HPC Server 2008 meets our company's needs. Hardware details: 4x AMD Opteron 6176 SE (2.2 GHz, 12-core) Supermicro H8QGi-F 32x Kingston 4GB DDR3-1333 ECC Reg. OCZ Agility 2 240 GB SATA SSD WD 2 TB 7.2krpm SATA Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Evaluation (expires in 3 days) After spending nearly an hour and a half on the phone, being transferred to 4 different departments, they said that that key has been blocked. I can understand that might be the issue if it was for a non-genuine, illegal, or pirated key from some third party website, but this is a key that is officially published by Microsoft directly and it cannot be activated. Is there a way for me to activate this copy of Windows before it expires, or will I be unable to properly evaluate Windows HPC Server 2008; and therefore, must disqualify it from the list of potential acquisitions due to an improperly tested environment? Any help in being able to resolve this issue is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi, It is recommend that you contact Microsoft Download Center to perform the further research. http://support.microsoft.com/gp/ContactDownloads By the way, the issue seems to be related to Windows HPC Server. As we mainly focus on the General question about Windows Server system and here is not the best support resource for Windows HPC Server, if you want to perform the further research, it is recommend you to get further support in the corresponding community so that you can get the most qualified pool of respondents. Thanks for your understanding. For your convenience, I have list the related link as followed. Windows HPC Server Deployment, Management, and Administration http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en/windowshpcitpros/threads Best Regards, Vincent Hu

After spending approximately an hour and a half on the phone with tech support for activation issues, this is the place that they told me to ask my question. There is no specific place or contact number or contact information anywhere that pertains specifically to/for Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Evaluation edition. There is also no available selection that is the best/most accurate specifically for this issue, and there exists only approximately two days left before this installation will become invalid. Therefore; a speedy resolve would be greatly appreciated, especially given that the key that's published is provided straight from the OEM. Actually, this page that I just found answers this question: https://connect.microsoft.com/HPC/content/content.aspx?ContentID=7211

Hi, I understand your current situation, however, Windows HPC Server is a product which is totally different from Windows Server 2008. As we mainly focus on the General question about Windows Server system and here is not the best support resource for Windows HPC Server, so I recommend that you perform the further research in Windows HPC Server forum. By the way, I can’t access the page you provided in Microsoft Connect site. Best Regards, Vincent Hu