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    Installed the trial version yesterday, and today it is telling me that my evaluation period is finished.

    Now when I installed it, I thought my system clock was set properly.  After doing so, I realized I was showing PM rather than AM, so changed teh clock from within the Settings facility in WHS.

    At the time I went away, I was doing an initial back up of files from my PC onto the WHS

    Then I went away.  When I came back, I saw that WHS was in critical status, with the message that I have "0 days remain for you to activate Windows Home Server".

    Is there a way of backing out of this situation without having to reinstall everything?

    Thursday, March 19, 2009 12:45 PM

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    Assuming you downloaded the evaluation software from Microsoft, you can get a product key from Connect. You will have to register and sign up for the Windows Home Server "beta", if you haven't done so yet. If you don't activate your server, you will have 30 days to evaluate it, which is honestly not enough time.

    Note: the only way to convert the evaluation software to a fully-licensed version is a server reinstallation. There is a time bomb built into the OS in the evaluation version. It's not tied to the product key (therefore changing the product key won't have any effect), and can't be disabled.

    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Thursday, March 19, 2009 3:54 PM
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    It depends on what the actual message is. Is it saying that you have to activate, or that your evaluation period has expired? If the latter, your server is probably also rebooting every hour.

    If it's saying that you have to activate, then go ahead. Enter your product key and do so. If it's saying that your evaluation period has expired, you will have to reinstall, as the evaluation product has a time bomb built in that disables the operating system.

    And yes, changing the system time can potentially cause either the activation or the evaluation timer to run out.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Thursday, March 19, 2009 2:51 PM
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    I don't have a key yet.  The idea of an evaluation version is that you try it for a while and see if it works to your liking before committing to buying the software.

    I just tried reinstalling and it locks up when it gets to the late stages of configuring the OS.  It probably sees a file somewhere in there that tells it I have an expired version.  I probably need to wipe the hard drives clean at this point and restart from scratch. 

    I don't have much to lose, as it just had the time to partially complete a backup of my first PC.

    I just wish I could have avoided all this trouble

    Thanks for your suggestions.
    Thursday, March 19, 2009 3:42 PM
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    Assuming you downloaded the evaluation software from Microsoft, you can get a product key from Connect. You will have to register and sign up for the Windows Home Server "beta", if you haven't done so yet. If you don't activate your server, you will have 30 days to evaluate it, which is honestly not enough time.

    Note: the only way to convert the evaluation software to a fully-licensed version is a server reinstallation. There is a time bomb built into the OS in the evaluation version. It's not tied to the product key (therefore changing the product key won't have any effect), and can't be disabled.

    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Thursday, March 19, 2009 3:54 PM
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    Thanks a lot.  My problem is fixed now, hopefully for 30 days.
    Just in case someone runs into teh same problem as I did, here is for teh record how I was able to fix it.  When I reinstalled from the evaluation DVD and chose reinstall (previous post) that did not work because one of the files (I guess) was telling the OS that I was past my evaluation period. 
    I tried yet once more, again from DVD, this time choosing the "new installation" feature.  Since it wipes teh hard drive clean during the installation process, all works OK now.

    That said, this was an option for me as I had just installed teh software less than 24 hours before.  Obviously, if I had been using it for 30 days, I would not want to lose all the files that I would have backed up.

    Thanks Ken on your guidance on what to do as teh evaluation period nears its end.

    Thursday, March 19, 2009 9:42 PM