Activated Windows Server 2003 Ent. asking to re-activate.

[Dmitry]

We are using Windows Server 2003 Enterprise as a Terminal Server. It was
installed and activated in 2005. This morning it would not allow any of the
users to log-on, and every user was presented with the Activation Wizard,
telling that the Windows needs to be activated before it can be used. The
Event 1000 was logged-on in the event log

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Windows Product Activation
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1000
Date: 10/1/2008
Time: 7:16:23 AM
User: N/A
Computer: FSDTS2
Description:
An error occurred while the wizard was checking the current Windows product
license. Error Code: 0x80040507

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

None of our users have the administrative rights to the server, so they
could not activate or de-activate the server. I have followed all the steps
in the Activation Wizard and the server was successfully activated. But our
production was down for 30 minutes this morning because of the activation
issue. I always was under impression that once activated, the server does not
need to be re-activated, unless the hardware changes. We did not change any
hardware or software in any recent time. My questions are:
- What can cause the activation to break?
- How can I prevent it from happening in the future

Thanks,

Dmitry

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

Since this problem is not related to Terminal Services, you'd
better ask it in a general Windows 2003 newsgroup.
That said, check EventID.net for some causes to this problem:

http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?eventid=1000&eventno=1906
&source=Windows%20Product%20Activation&phase=1

Was any change made to the server at all prior to this incident?
Running Windows Update? Updated any other applications, like anti-
virus software? It seems that some applications unregister some
dll's, which causes the activation problem. If that's the case, you
can solve it with:

Go to Start > Run and type:
regsvr32 regwizc.dll
regsvr32 licdll.dll

If you google for the error message you got, you'll find lots of
other posts about this problem, so there might be other causes as
well.
_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___

 

[Dmitry]

Thanks for your reply.
I have re-posted my question to the General Windows 2003 newsgroup. But, to
your questions. We did not change anything in the recent past, and no Windows
updates were applied. However, we do run the antivirus on the server, and it
does update itself. We also host a custom application, so the application
update cannot be discounted. I did check the EventID article, and none of it
applies to us. All articles, found on Google revolve around solving the
problem, which was easy - I just re-activated the server. But the big
question is - how do I prevent this problem from coming back again? In your
experience, how robust the Windows Activation really is? If the application
update can damage it, I better advice our software development team to be
extra careful.
Also, pleas help me to identify all the components of the Windows Activation
.. As far as I can tell, the activation information is stored in the following
files:
c:\Windows\System32\wpa.dbl
c:\Windows\System32\wpa.bak
Those files should not be "Read Only" and both System and Administrators
accounts should have full access to those files. If any of those files gets
damaged, Windows would need to be re-activated.
Do you know what the following two DLL do?
regwizc.dll
licdll.dll
Are they any more components to Windows Activation?

Thanks,

Dmitry
MCSE, MCSA, Security+

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

I'm sorry, Dmitry, but I don't have any more information than what
can be found online. I've never activated a server myself, always
worked with Volume Licensing, which doesn't need activation.

_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___