Trying to resurrect 10 year old software - can't activate Windows Server 2008 R2 and problems with Activate by Phone

Rented Dreams

12/5/22, 3:47 AM

I wrote a workshop database application for a client in Romania that had a Land Rover dealership a long long time ago in Access 2.0. Haven't heard from him in years, then last week he calls. He is still using the program ! and want me to "update" it.

Thank goodness for old MSDN library CD folders in back of file cabinets. So, I have installed an old copy of Win Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and loaded up Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode to run the MS Office Access 2.0 program. Then set about trying to re-activating all this 10 year old software. Surprisingly everything went smoothly until I got to the Win Server 2008 R2 with SP1.

I couldn't activate it online, kept getting errors that said the cause was timing out. So I tried to activate the phone call method. After executing the slui 4 cmd, the "Activate by Phone" window form opens, but the location drop-down is not enabled. It is greyed out and stuck on Afghanistan. The form isn't frozen or locked up, it just doesn't give me an option to change my location.

Anyone else seen this happen? Any ideas on how to activate this last piece of s/w or a workaround for the Activate By Phone form?

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

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NiKiZe

12/5/22, 6:08 AM

Do you really need to activate it? Since it doesn't sound that long lived the 30 days might do? in worst case use re-arm. to get up to 90 days.

Rented Dreams

12/6/22, 7:05 AM

I'm estimating it will take at least a couple of months to just analyze the code and figure out what we wrote. Client wants a similar look and feel, just wants to run it on modern equipment .... and of course the "oh and can you add _ _ " functionality. I think the easiest way to get this activated is find a way to call someone at Microsoft

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vidarlo

12/5/22, 5:43 AM

I've seen this on Windows XP machines 3-4 years ago. While you can't select the country, it will activate by phone, so the matter is just finding a phone number you can call.

I used a phone number for Norway found on this page.

It was not a VLK edition I activated.

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Rented Dreams

12/6/22, 7:07 AM

Yes, I think I'll just set aside a whole day to keep calling Microsoft until I find the right person or department. Thanks for the link

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Trying to resurrect 10 year old software - can't activate Windows Server 2008 R2 and problems with Activate by Phone

TH: พยายามคืนชีพซอฟต์แวร์อายุ 10 ปี - เปิดใช้งาน Windows Server 2008 R2 ไม่ได้ และปัญหา Activate by Phone

RO: Încercarea de a resuscita software-ul vechi de 10 ani - nu se poate activa Windows Server 2008 R2 și probleme cu Activarea prin telefon

RU: Попытка воскресить 10-летнее программное обеспечение - не удается активировать Windows Server 2008 R2 и проблемы с активацией по телефону.

VI: Cố gắng phục hồi phần mềm 10 năm tuổi - không thể kích hoạt Windows Server 2008 R2 và sự cố với Kích hoạt bằng điện thoại

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