Checking whether product key will work with SBS 2003

Posted by Rob Nicholson on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Rob Nicholson
Published on 2010-05-17T14:14:25Z Indexed on 2010/05/17 14:21 UTC
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product-key

We've recently absorbed a small company who had a Dell PowerEdge server running SBS 2003. For some reason, the hard disks have been wiped. We have the product key though from the sticker on the side of the case but not the installation media:

Win SBS Std 2003 1-2 CPU 5-CAL OEM software

We do have a Dell labelled set of four CDs labelled SBS 2003 in our store and I've built a VM from this media but it doesn't prompt for the product key during install.

Is there any way to ascertain whether this media will work with this product key without going through activation? I know one can activate several times but would prefer to check we've got the right media before doing this.

Thanks, Rob.

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