Enter the Product Key

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[This is pre-release documentation and subject to change in future releases. This topic's current status is: Writing.]

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell to enter the product key and license Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

When you install Exchange 2007, it is unlicensed. This is also known as a trial edition. The trial edition expires 120 days after the date of installation. An unlicensed server functions as an Exchange 2007 Standard Edition server, but is not eligible for support from Microsoft Product Support Services. When you start the Exchange Management Console, if you have Exchange 2007 servers in your organization that are unlicensed, Exchange will display a list of all unlicensed Exchange 2007 servers and the number of days that are remaining until the trial edition expires. If you have Exchange 2007 servers for which the trial edition has expired, Exchange will also display a separate warning for each expired server.

Before You Begin

To perform this procedure, the account you use must be delegated the following:

  • Exchange Server Administrator role and local Administrators group for the target server

For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Exchange Server 2007, see Important: Update for Permissions in Exchange 2010.

Procedure

To use the Exchange Management Console to enter the product key

  1. Start the Exchange Management Console.

  2. In the console tree, expand Server Configuration.

  3. In the result pane, select the server that you want to license.

  4. In the action pane, under the server name, click Enter Product Key. The Enter Product Key wizard appears.

  5. On the Enter Product Key page, type the product key for the Exchange server, and then click Enter.

    Note

    You can find the product key on the Exchange 2007 DVD case. The product key is a 25-character alphanumeric string, grouped in sets of five characters separated by hyphens. For more information about Volume Licensing, see Volume Activation.

  6. Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service so that the change is applied.

To use the Exchange Management Shell to enter the product key

  1. Run the following command:

    Set-ExchangeServer -Identity ExServer01 -ProductKey aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa

    Each aaaaa represents five alphanumeric characters of the product key.

  2. Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service so that the change is applied.

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see the Set-ExchangeServer reference topic.