Windows 2012 R2 offline activation

Problem

I was at a site, the server I was working on was in on a closed network with no internet access. But I had to activate the Windows Server 2012 R2. I entered the key but got an error that the key is invalid.

You key is most likely not invalid. In Windows Server 2012 R2 the behavior is a little different, when you activate the product key you are simply told that it is an invalid key. The server is trying to validate the key over the internet, which of course doesn't work if your server doesn't have a path out.

Solution

To solve this issue open command prompt and enter the first command. You will get a message stating your Activation Key has been entered successfully. Then use the second command and this will bring up the UI, similar to previous Windows versions, that will walk you through phone activation.

Command 1 - slmgr -ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX (where "X" is your product key)

Command 2 - slui 4

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Skype dropping call

Skype dropping call after 12 seconds with no audio

Problem

I was at a client today and they had an issue with Skype dropping a call after 12 seconds and there was no audio from both sides.

The client has a VMware Horizon vdi solution and the problem initially was calling from within the vdi environment.

I did some trouble shooting, internally, externally and from my laptop on the wifi. I experienced the same problem. So the problem was not the vdi side.

I concluded that there must be an issue on the firewall.

Solution

I called up the guys that manage the firewall and asked them to check that TCP ports 80 and 443 are open on the network they said that is was open as that is what it says on Skype's website:

But what they don't tell you is that you also need UDP port 3480 opened. Once you open those three ports...

Problem solved...

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CCertRequest::Submit No mapping between account names

CCertRequest::Submit No mapping between account names and security IDs was done. 0x80070534 (WIN32: 1332)

Problem

When requesting a certificate from a server using Windows Server 2008 R2 with IIS 8, by typing in the http://server name/certsrv into your web browser you receive these errors:

Solution

Log into your web server and confirm you have Basic Authentication and Digest Authentication ticked under Add Roles and Features. If you haven't install them using these steps:

Once that is completed follow these steps:

1. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager:

If you are using Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2:

• On the taskbar, click Server Manager, click Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

If you are using Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2:

• On the taskbar, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

2. In the Connections pane, expand the server name, expand Sites, and then click the site, application or Web service for which you want to enable basic authentication and Digest Authentication.

Scroll to the Security section in the Home pane, and then double-click Authentication.

In the Authentication pane, select Digest Authentication, and then, in the Actions pane, click Enable. Select Basic Authentication, and then, in the Actions pane, click Enable.

In the Authentication pane, select Anonymous Authentication, and then click Disable in the Actions pane.

Restart your IIS services and this should solve your problem.

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