Activation using Microsoft Office Resource Kit

All the actions described in the following guide should be performed on your domain controller computer while logged in as a domain administrator.

1. Create a shared folder on any computer that is accessible by all the computers you want to remotely activate Radmin Server on.

2. Download ramsi.zip network activation package. Unzip ramsi1.msi and ramsi2.msi into shared folder you have created in step 1.

3. Download and install free 'Microsoft Office Resource Kit'.

4. Start 'Microsoft Office Resource Kit' using 'Start'->'Programs'-> 'Microsoft Office'->'Microsoft Office Tools'-> 'Microsoft Office 2003 Resource Kit'->'Custom Installation Wizard'.

   Note: Make certain that you have started the utility using 'Custom Installation Wizard' and not 'Custom Maintenance Wizard'.

5. 'Custom Installation Wizard' window will be displayed. Click on the 'Next' button.

   

6. Click on the 'Browse' button and select the file ramsi1.msi that you have downloaded in step 2.

   

7. If 'MSI package is not supported' dialog is displayed, skip it by pressing the 'Yes' button.

   

8. Select 'Create a new MST file' and press the 'Next' button.

   

9. Click on the 'Browse' button and select a folder and file name for MST file. Set a ramsi1.mst name.

   

10. Click on the 'Next' button several times until 'Modify Setup Properties' window is displayed.

    

11. Click on the 'Add' button, the 'Add/Modify property value' window will be displayed. Enter 'PATH_TO_STORE_FILES' (without quotes) as a property name. Enter the name of the shared folder you have created in step 1 as the property value. Click on the 'Ok' button.

    Note: Make sure that the shared folder is accessible from the computers you want to activate Radmin Server on. For example, if the name of the computer that hosts the shared folder is 'MyServer' and the shared folder name is 'MyShare', the value must be set to '\\MyServer\MyShare', without quotes. You can check the folder name by accessing it from the computer(s) on which you are going to activate Radmin Server.

    

12. Click on the 'Add' button again, the 'Add/Modify property value' window will be displayed. Enter 'RADMIN_LICENSE_KEY' (without quotes) as a property name. Enter your license key as the property value and make sure there are no extra spaces or other characters in the key. Click on the 'Ok' button.

    

13. Click on the 'Next' button, the 'Save Changes' window will be displayed. Click on the 'Finish' button and exit the program. Created MST file will be saved to the directory that was specified in step 9.

    

14. Repeat the steps 4-13 for ramsi2.msi file and create the ramsi2.mst file for it.

15. Copy ramsi1.mst and ramsi2.mst into the shared folder you have created in step 1.

16. Start 'Active Directory Users and Computers'.

    

17. Right-click your domain name and select 'Properties'. 'Domain Properties' window will be displayed.

    

18. In the domain properties window select 'Group Policy' tab, right-click the 'Default Domain Policy' item in the list and select 'Edit'. 'Group Policy Object Editor' window will be displayed.

    

19. In the 'Group Policy Object Editor' select 'Computer Configuration', 'Administrative Templates', 'System', 'Logon' from the tree in the left pane. Enable 'Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon' option in the list of options on the right hand side.

    

20. Select 'Computer configuration', 'Software Settings', 'Software Installation' in the left tree. Right-click 'Software Installation' item and select 'New', 'Package...'. The 'Open' window will be displayed.

    

21. Select 'ramsi1.msi' file in the shared folder you have saved in step 2. Click on the 'Open' button and 'Advanced Package Configuration' window will be displayed.

    

22. In the 'Advanced Package Configuration' window select 'Advanced' and click on the 'Ok' button. 'Package Properties' window will be displayed.

    

23. In the 'Package Properties' window select 'Modifications' tab and click on the 'Add' button. 'Open' window will be displayed.

    

24. Select 'ramsi1.mst' file in the shared folder you have saved in step 15. Click on the 'Open' button.

    

25. Make sure that 'Deployment state' for created installation is set to 'Assigned' and the 'Source' points to the ramsi1.msi file in the shared folder.

    

26. Using Schedule reboot for computers in your domain you want to activate Radmin Server on. After the reboot during Windows startup ramsi1.msi activation package will save Activation Request Files into the folder you have specified in step 11. File for each computer will be named after the computer's domain name and will have '.request' extension.

27. After all computers has been rebooted and ramsi1.msi has been completed install Radmin Viewer on any computer that has internet connection and access to shared folder and then execute the following command in CMD window:

    for %f in ("<shared folder>\*.request") DO "%ProgramFiles%\Radmin Viewer 3.0\radmin.exe" /sendrequest /requestfile"%f" /licensefile"%~dpnf.license"

    Where <shared folder> is the name of the folder you have created in step 1. Example:

    for %f in ("\\MyServer\MyShare\*.request") DO "%ProgramFiles%\Radmin Viewer 3.0\radmin.exe" /sendrequest /requestfile"%f" /licensefile"%~dpnf.license"

    This command will activate all Activation Request Files and create Activation Response Files in the same shared folder.

28. Repeat steps 16-26 for ramsi2.msi and ramsi2.mst. The second installation will retrieve Activation Response Files from your shared folder and will activate Radmin Server on all computers.

Activation using PsTools Network utilities kit

Here is the example of automation of activation process for networks that don’t have Internet access.

Free network utility, Psexec, is used for this automation. Psexec is a part of free Network utilities kit PsTools, downloadable from Microsoft website:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Networking/PsTools.mspx

Activation on a network machines via license file is conducted in three steps.

Step 1: Automatic gathering of “request” files into a net share

Make a network share with writing permitted from all involved computers, \\server\share below.
Step 1 is executed by 4 files that should be in one folder:

1. psexec.exe (from abovementioned package)

2. MoveRequest_ToShare.cmd
   move %windir%\system32\rserver30\%computername%.request \\server\share
   move %windir%\system32\rserver30\%computername%.srf \\server\share

3. MakeRadmin3RequestFiles.cmd (copies and executes the second cmd-file on all domain computers)
   copy MoveRequest_ToShare.cmd \\server\share
   psexec \\* -s -c RServer3_SaveRequestFiles.cmd

4. RServer3_SaveRequestFiles.cmd
   copy \\server\share\MoveRequest_ToShare.cmd %windir%\system32\rserver30
   %windir%\system32\rserver30\Rserver3.exe /saverequest /key:RADPR-123456-YOUR-KEY /requestfile"%windir%\system32\rserver30\%computername%.request" /outputfile"%windir%\system32\rserver30\%computername%.srf" (this long command makes the request and log files in Rserver30 folder)
   MoveRequest_ToShare.cmd (this command moves the request and log files to net share)
   Del MoveRequest_ToShare.cmd
   Del RServer3_SaveRequestFiles.cmd

As a result, .request and .srf files with the same names as network computers, should appear in \\server\share folder. SRFs are log text files with results from each machine (Save Request Files), check them in case of problems.

Step 2: Receiving of corresponding “license” files on an Internet-connected computer

Now copy the folder with “request” files to a computer with Internet access (via diskette, flash, network, CD/DVD disk etc). Install there free Radmin Viewer 3 and launch a CMD-file with cycle similar to:

GetLicenseFiles.cmd
for %%f in (\\YourComputer\FolderWithRequestFiles\*.request) DO "%ProgramFiles%\Radmin Viewer 3.0\radmin.exe" /sendrequest /requestfile"%%f" /licensefile"%%f.license" /outputfile"%%f.slf"

This CMD uploads each of you “request” files to our activation server, puts corresponding “license” files in the same folder and logs results in “slf” files (Save License Files). “License file is saved” means that Radmin activation base have checked the request and everything’s OK.

Step 3: Applying of “license” files on a network machines

Copy received .license files back in \\server\share, same as in Step 1.
Now 5 CMD-files and Psexec.exe are needed:

1. psexec.exe
2. Copy_CMDs_ToShare.cmd
3. Copy_Files_FromShare.cmd
4. Copy_Result_ToShare.cmd
5. RServer3_UseLicenseFile.cmd
6. UseLicenseFilesDomain.cmd

UseLicenseFilesDomain.cmd is the file you need to execute. It launches the rest of CMDs:
call Copy_CMDs_ToShare.cmd
psexec \\* -s -c Copy_Files_FromShare.cmd
psexec \\* -s %windir%\system32\rserver30\RServer3_UseLicenseFile.cmd
psexec \\* -s %windir%\system32\rserver30\Copy_Result_ToShare.cmd

The examples of CMDs are:

Copy_CMDs_ToShare.cmd
copy *.cmd \\server\share

Copy_Files_FromShare.cmd
copy \\server\share\%computername%.request.license %windir%\system32\rserver30
copy \\server\share\*.cmd %windir%\system32\rserver30

RServer3_UseLicenseFile.cmd
%windir%\system32\rserver30\Rserver3.exe /uselicense /licensefile"%windir%\system32\rserver30\%computername%.request.license" /outputfile"%windir%\system32\rserver30\%computername%.ulr"

Copy_Result_ToShare.cmd
copy %windir%\system32\rserver30\*.ulr \\server\share
del %windir%\system32\rserver30\*.cmd

After CMD execution look into .ulr (Use License Results) files in your network folder and check whether activations were successful. “License code is saved” means that licenses are applied at corresponding domain computers.