issues with Win2003 Server

[Drax]

We had Proxmox 1.7 running on two clusters. We upgraded one cluster to 2.x with no issues. Including more ram & drive space. The second cluster has windows VM's on it. When we attempt to move them to the other cluster that is upgraded, it keeps asking us to authenticate it with a new key or serial. Obviously I really don't want to burn a license each time we upgrade Proxmox. I gotta think that there is some painless way to do this with out either burning a license key or without leaving it anchored with 1.7.

Has anyone successfully migrated a Windows VM to a newer Proxmox without having to reissue a new key? I would think this is no different than if I got a new box & moved the image to it. How do I get around this? I am not trying to cheat anything. I just don't want to burn a license key every time I upgrade proxmox or add ram or storage.I

know there has to be a way. Can anyone help me?

 

[spirit]

We had Proxmox 1.7 running on two clusters. We upgraded one cluster to 2.x with no issues. Including more ram & drive space. The second cluster has windows VM's on it. When we attempt to move them to the other cluster that is upgraded, it keeps asking us to authenticate it with a new key or serial. Obviously I really don't want to burn a license each time we upgrade Proxmox. I gotta think that there is some painless way to do this with out either burning a license key or without leaving it anchored with 1.7.

Has anyone successfully migrated a Windows VM to a newer Proxmox without having to reissue a new key? I would think this is no different than if I got a new box & moved the image to it. How do I get around this? I am not trying to cheat anything. I just don't want to burn a license key every time I upgrade proxmox or add ram or storage.I

know there has to be a way. Can anyone help me?

Hi, Why kind of license do you use ? (oem ??)

The problem must be a virtual hardware change. I'm always using volume licenses for my vms, and I never this kind of problem.

 

[Drax]

Hi, Why kind of license do you use ? (oem ??)

The problem must be a virtual hardware change. I'm always using volume licenses for my vms, and I never this kind of problem.

Yes we have volume license. Why does that make any difference? Does anyone know how to do this? Yes I am sure it is seeing a virtual hardware change but that shouldn't mean I have to burn a license everytime I add ram or make another core available to it. There must be a way isn't there?

 

[spirit]

Yes we have volume license. Why does that make any difference? Does anyone know how to do this? Yes I am sure it is seeing a virtual hardware change but that shouldn't mean I have to burn a license everytime I add ram or make another core available to it. There must be a way isn't there?

I really think it's related to your license type, because I never have add problem with mines with volume licenses (win2003 - win2008R2).

What is your windows version ?

 

[hotwired007]

The virtual hardware is changing when you upgrade from 1.7 to 2.x the KVM version changes and therefor so will the QEMU hardware and windows will detect that - what is the issue with the licences then? just reactivate it and use your original licence key - thats what i have done - or do you have a limit on how many times you can activate a licence key?

 

[Drax]

The virtual hardware is changing when you upgrade from 1.7 to 2.x the KVM version changes and therefor so will the QEMU hardware and windows will detect that - what is the issue with the licences then? just reactivate it and use your original licence key - thats what i have done - or do you have a limit on how many times you can activate a licence key?

The problem with that is that every time you reactivate it it burns another license from the set. That is what I am trying to avoid. It should let me do so without costing me a license key.

 

[hotwired007]

The problem with that is that every time you reactivate it it burns another license from the set. That is what I am trying to avoid. It should let me do so without costing me a license key.

AFAIK there is no limit on how many times you can activate Win Server 2003 UNLESS you have a specific limited licence code :S

on a side note once a server is activated - if you do a backup/restore/rename/replace NIC it stays activated...

 

[Drax]

AFAIK there is no limit on how many times you can activate Win Server 2003 UNLESS you have a specific limited licence code :S

on a side note once a server is activated - if you do a backup/restore/rename/replace NIC it stays activated...

These are just action pack license codes so there shouldn't be an issue. The issue is losing a key each time we upgrade the hardware.

 

[tom]

there was a major change in virtualized hardware in KVM last year but this is not expected with every update (the goal is to prevent this totally). I always use a CPU type KVM64, you VM always see the same CPU.

 

[drott]

With Open License on Windows 2003, that will not be a problem. Server 2008 yes that will be a problem, but then 50 reinstalls or moves is a lot for one license. You might have trouble with activation by the internet, since there may be signficicant changes to the detected NIC and Windows presents the activation message prior to the discovery of the hardware changes for NIC, video etc.

If the cpu or bios changes significantly, Server 2003 may not have all the drivers to load the disk and you may well bdos and with x0000007b right after registration is complete. Tpically what you may want to load the mergeide.reg file prior to conversion or a move to a new machine and backup the contents of the windows machine prior to any moves when ever possible. Mergeide.rge provides generic ide drives that should allow discovery and boot so there is a reduced risk of the bdos. You can check your inf folder to see if the drivers are already there and avoid this step.