Needed to install two Windows Server 2012 R2 instances today, but didn’t have a valid production license key yet and didn’t seem like there was a way to skip the key in the setup. Found you can remove a license key using a command, so worked around it using a temporary dev key from MSDN for the installation and then removed that key afterwards. For future self-reference, here’s how…
- Open elevated command prompt
- To remove key
> slmgr -upk
- To add new one
> slmgr -ipk NEW-KEY or use regular activation process
Installed Windows Server on a VM, and the method I’ve used earlier apparently isn’t available in the server version of Windows. Found you can still do it through the registry. Either stick the following in a reg file, adjust and run, or just set the values manually through regedit.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"AutoAdminLogon"=dword:00000001
"DefaultUserName"="Administrator"
"DefaultPassword"="ThePassword"
No longer need to login every time I boot up my virtual test server…
With a hint of Social Ineptitude
