Install Windows Server 2003

[rawle24]

Guys i bought a Dell Poweredge 410; it came with Windows Server 2008 OEM; i am trying to get Windows Server 2003 installed; Everytime i enter the product key it keeps saying "Product Key Is Invalid" i know i have the correct product key; a friend was saying that Dell Or Microsoft locks the server from the bios or something like that and it will not allow me to install any other OS.

Any Ideas?

Thanks In Advance

 

[sha2169]

I would have to disagree with your friend. We just bought 5 PE 610s with 2008 OEM licenses and 2003 is installed on all of them. And I'm sure if i wanted to load Linux on it i would not have an issue. It sounds like your key does not matches your media. I'm almost positive that when you install from Dell's media on Dell hardware you don't need to enter a key. Depending on how you ordered the server, the media for both OS's should have been included with the server. I would try with the Dell media.

Hope this helps.

 

[paladin256]

There are two types of keys retail and OEM. If the key you have is retail and you try to use it with a Dell or other OEM cd it will not work and vice versa.

 

[58sniper]

There are MANY types of license keys, including retail, OEM, VL, trial, Open, etc. 2003 CDs are tied to specific key types.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[DaveGoTech]

Many of the big manufacturers, like Dell, HP and IBM give you a quick and easy installation CD. You boot from their CD, enter your information, remove that disk and insert the Windows CD and installation is automated. If that is what you are doing, your installation CD may be specifically for Server 2008 and won't work when you insert a 2003 CD.

To get around this, boot from the Windows Server 2003 CD and install everything manually, including settings and drivers.

Be aware that your server may only be certified for Windows 2008 and not 2003. You may have to check with Dell. There aren't many differences, but in the case of RAID, this is common.