MSDN Activation

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chuskey

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We ran into a situation with a customer and we're trying to figure out the
best way to get them sorted out. They had a crash over labor day weekend and
both of their servers went down. Their former IT guy wasn't doing everything
above board and we're not sure exactly how the crash happened.

They didn't actually have any Windows Server software on hand. Their old IT
guy had set everything up for them and he is out of the country. Being labor
day weekend the only thing we had access to was an MSDN copy of Server 2003.
We used this to create the OS for the host server and also a VM server that
acts as domain controller. Neither of which were activated.

Now that things have sorted out we are trying to purchase licenses for these
installations to make them legitimate production software. I've worked with
a couple of different software vendors and they are telling me that they
can't match up a license key for an MSDN installation because the software is
never supposed to be in production.

I know that the software isn't supposed to be in production, but because of
the way the circumstances worked out it is. All we want to do is get the
right keys and make it "honest".

I would open a ticket with MS, but it's not cheap and I want to be sure that
they won't just tell me the same thing.

Has anyone run into this situation before? Is there a way to get a valid
key for this? We will gladly work with MS on this if they will help.

Thanks.
 
Re: MSDN Activation


"chuskey" <chuskey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C61BF6C1-C799-4312-B499-05F9AC00DE06@microsoft.com...
> We ran into a situation with a customer and we're trying to figure out the
> best way to get them sorted out. They had a crash over labor day weekend
and
> both of their servers went down. Their former IT guy wasn't doing
everything
> above board and we're not sure exactly how the crash happened.
>
> They didn't actually have any Windows Server software on hand. Their old
IT
> guy had set everything up for them and he is out of the country. Being
labor
> day weekend the only thing we had access to was an MSDN copy of Server
2003.
> We used this to create the OS for the host server and also a VM server
that
> acts as domain controller. Neither of which were activated.
>
> Now that things have sorted out we are trying to purchase licenses for
these
> installations to make them legitimate production software. I've worked
with
> a couple of different software vendors and they are telling me that they
> can't match up a license key for an MSDN installation because the software
is
> never supposed to be in production.
>
> I know that the software isn't supposed to be in production, but because
of
> the way the circumstances worked out it is. All we want to do is get the
> right keys and make it "honest".
>
> I would open a ticket with MS, but it's not cheap and I want to be sure
that
> they won't just tell me the same thing.
>
> Has anyone run into this situation before? Is there a way to get a valid
> key for this? We will gladly work with MS on this if they will help.
>
> Thanks.

Why not restore from a backup (I seriously hope they had a backup!!), after
all, that is its purpose.
 
Re: MSDN Activation

They had a back up of the data files, but they didn't have a "full" backup
unfortunately.

"NeilH" wrote:

>
> "chuskey" <chuskey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C61BF6C1-C799-4312-B499-05F9AC00DE06@microsoft.com...
> > We ran into a situation with a customer and we're trying to figure out the
> > best way to get them sorted out. They had a crash over labor day weekend
> and
> > both of their servers went down. Their former IT guy wasn't doing
> everything
> > above board and we're not sure exactly how the crash happened.
> >
> > They didn't actually have any Windows Server software on hand. Their old
> IT
> > guy had set everything up for them and he is out of the country. Being
> labor
> > day weekend the only thing we had access to was an MSDN copy of Server
> 2003.
> > We used this to create the OS for the host server and also a VM server
> that
> > acts as domain controller. Neither of which were activated.
> >
> > Now that things have sorted out we are trying to purchase licenses for
> these
> > installations to make them legitimate production software. I've worked
> with
> > a couple of different software vendors and they are telling me that they
> > can't match up a license key for an MSDN installation because the software
> is
> > never supposed to be in production.
> >
> > I know that the software isn't supposed to be in production, but because
> of
> > the way the circumstances worked out it is. All we want to do is get the
> > right keys and make it "honest".
> >
> > I would open a ticket with MS, but it's not cheap and I want to be sure
> that
> > they won't just tell me the same thing.
> >
> > Has anyone run into this situation before? Is there a way to get a valid
> > key for this? We will gladly work with MS on this if they will help.
> >
> > Thanks.
>
> Why not restore from a backup (I seriously hope they had a backup!!), after
> all, that is its purpose.
>
>
>
>
 
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