HI All,
I’ve picked up a 2nd hand DS5100 which was completely barebones for a good price. I appreciate there are certain limitations but it looks like a sensible upgrade from my N54L. As the hardware is identical (other than CPU and RAM) I’m guessing the same software is applied to both DS5100 and DS6100 (but that’s just my suspicion). As it’s 2nd hand I guess it’s down to myself and the community!
I have a problem with trying to activate Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials - the key on the bottom has been partially ripped off so can’t be used. My understanding is that because these shipped officially with WS2012R2 - using the correct recovery image will automatically activate it via the BIOS.
Would some kind person be able to upload their recovery image from EITHER DS5100 or DS6100? I think that just .wim image file would more than suffice? I appreciate it’s a rather large file but I plan to make a full recovery image using it to make this process much easier.
Failing that, I believe a simple file is all that would be required - it’s an “.xrm-ms” file specific to Western Digital. I don’t know what location that would be stored in, but it should be somewhere on the OS drive so hopefully a search will find it if it exists?
For those who still use the OEM install it looks like someone has come out with a tool designed specifically for this purpose. It won’t work if you did a clean install (as it won’t be OEM then) but if anyone is still running an OEM would they mind running the tool and sharing the files?
The files output should NOT be unique to an individual server - they should only be unique to Western Digital products. This is why is won’t work if you’ve done a clean install.
The tool can be found here: OEMDump Windows 2012 (R2) Compatible || Ruud's Blog
As with all software I’d recommend you virus scan it first.
If anyone could help it would be really appreciated. DS5100 and DS6100 should be identical.
Hello,
Try contacting support. Maybe they can help.
https://support.wdc.com/support/case.aspx?lang=en
I suspect I may have to. Although as a 2nd user unit I’m not sure how receptive WD will be to that request and I’ve not seen them provide full recovery media other than a replacement HDD.
I’m away at the minute so hoped in the time I’m away someone would be able to dump the OEM info and I’d be able to use that on top of a clean install. Saves waiting for WD support and potentially any costs (it’s a homelab box only now)
If anyone does use the OEM dump tool, you should see that the product key it spits out is different to the one on the bottom of the unit. The key it spits out is the WD OEM key and paired with the WD xrm-ms file means it will activate a legitimate WD box but is useless on anything else.
