Read this if you plan to install Windows Server 2003 R2 Beta Eval (the web download version)

I posted earlier an article about the newly released R2 Beta release which is available for download on the web for evaluation and preview.

But here is a rule which apparently is not described properly in the download page: if you downloaded the Evaluation copy of the R2 Eval Beta site from the web then you need to know the following:

1) The Product Key for this Eval Beta R2 build will install only on top of the Eval versions of Windows Server 2003 SP1, which is available here.

2) The provided R2 Beta Eval product key will not work when installing Eval Beta R2 on top of Windows Server 2003 SP1 Retail, or Windows Server 2003 SP1 Volume Licensing (VR) Retail.

3) The rules above are not valid if you obtained the R2 Beta build and its associated product key from other methods than downloading from the web from the R2 Eval Beta site. In that case, please consult the associated instructions for your particular build.

Comments

• Anonymous
  May 16, 2005
  No wonder the key wouldnt work. I'm sure there's a logical reason, but it blows. I already had a sysprepped 2003 SP1 retail VM setup on Virtual Server. So now I have to setup another VM just for the trial. Thanks a lot.
• Anonymous
  May 17, 2005
  Thanks for the info. Any plans to make this easier for folks that have MSDN subs, etc.? We've got boxes setup for testing and it would be far easier for us if we didn't have to rebuild boxes with an eval copy of Server 2k3 just to try out this CPP.