With Exchange Server 2010, you do not enter a product
key during initial setup. Instead, you provide the product key after
installation using the Exchange Management Console. Until you enter a
product key, Exchange Server 2010 runs in trial mode.
The product key you provide determines which edition is established
on an Exchange server. You can use a valid product key to go from a
trial edition to a Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition of Exchange
Server 2010 without having to reinstall the program.
Using the Exchange Management Console, you can determine the established edition for an Exchange server and licensing by completing the following steps:
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In the Exchange Management Console, select the Server Configuration node.
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In the main pane, right-click the server you want to work with and then select Properties.
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In the Properties dialog box, the established edition and license details are listed on the General tab.
Note
You can determine the licensing
configuration of multiple Exchange servers without accessing the
properties of each server. In the Exchange Management Console, select
the Server Configuration node. On the View menu, choose Add/Remove
Columns. This displays the Add/Remove Columns dialog box. In the
Add/Remove Columns dialog box, under Available Columns, click Product
ID, and then click Add. Next, click Licensing,
and then click Add. Click OK. This adds the Product ID and Licensing
columns to the displayed columns list. In the main pane of the Exchange
Management Console, scroll left or right as necessary to display the
Product ID and Licensing columns for your Exchange servers. If the
Product ID is listed as Unlicensed, you have not yet provided a valid product key for the Exchange server. Otherwise, the Product ID is an ID generated for the Exchange server.
Using the Exchange Management Console, you can enter a product key by completing the following steps:
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In the Exchange Management Console, select the Server Configuration node.
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Right-click the server that requires the product key, and then select
Enter Product Key. This starts the Enter Product Key Wizard.
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When prompted, type in the product key for the Exchange Server 2010
edition you want to establish, either Standard or Enterprise, and then
click Enter.
Note
The product key is a 25-character alphanumeric string, grouped in
sets of five characters separated by hyphens. You can find the product
key on the Exchange Server 2010 DVD case.
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The wizard validates the product
key and displays any appropriate warnings. Read the information
provided, and then click Finish. Keep the following in mind:
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When you change the product key on a Mailbox server, you must restart
the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service to apply the change.
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When you change the product key on an Edge Transport server, you must
resubscribe the server in the Exchange organization to apply the
change.
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You cannot use product keys to downgrade editions. To downgrade editions, you must uninstall Exchange Server and then reinstall Exchange Server.
Using the Exchange Management Shell, you can enter a server's product key using the Set-ExchangeServer cmdlet. Example 1 shows the syntax and usage. For the identity parameter, you use the server's name, such as MailServer25.
Example 1. Setting the Exchange product key syntax and usage
Syntax
Set-ExchangeServer -Identity 'ServerName'
-ProductKey 'ProductKey'
Usage
Set-ExchangeServer -Identity 'MailServer25'
-ProductKey 'AAAAA-BBBBB-CCCCC-DDDDD-EEEEE'
Tip
By using a valid product key, you can change from the Standard to the
Enterprise edition. You also can relicense an Exchange server by
entering a new product key for the installed edition, which is useful if
you accidentally used the same product key on multiple servers and want
to correct the mistake. The best way to do this is to enter the product
key using the Set-ExchangeServer cmdlet.
