Question : Windows Server 2003 OEM to Volume license

Good afternoon,

I am in the process of virtualizing 20 dell OEM licensed Windows Server 2003 servers to a vmware environment.  We purchased the volume licneses for the servers and I need to convert the OEM licensed installations to OEM so that it is compliant.

To my understanding, to perform this upgrade, I need to boot from the CD and perform a repair install.  i found that it also gave me the option to perform an upgrade from within Windows after the server has been virtualized.  Is there any difference if i start the process from within Windows after the P2V or by booting to the CD within the VM?

i dont want to make any changes to the physical machine so i am performing these steps after the P2V has  completed.  I also found that after the hardware changes have been detected, on the first server that we have tried so far it did not ask to be reactivated.

Thanks!

Answer : Windows Server 2003 OEM to Volume license

i would NOT do it before P2V, simply for the fact that an upgrade/repair install might break your current system. Also with virtual machines you can snapshot before doing the upgrade/repair so you always have a fallback.

to answer the original question, you will have to do the repair install from within windows, booting the cd will not allow the upgrade.

best bet though is to do clean installations and restore whatever you can restore. P2V and doing a repair/upgrade is a serious risk. don't forget to patch up windows again after performing this install.