i dloaded server 2k8 from ms, used bios mod plus slk + cert for oem activation which went fine, no watermark, looking at system it shows as activated, ran winver.exe showed activated, install beta sp2 everything was fine, still activated, ran windows update after beta sp2 install, that went ok, but i then get the watermark back and winver shows trial software which expires 01/04/2010, what gives, does that mean i can rearm it then lol its a long time away, or do i need to find a non trial version? Any suggestions?
I could be wrong, but I think that time limit applies to SP2 as it's still in beta (so they want to make sure people move to sp2 RC's etc when they are available or otherwise just not run old beta service pack releases forever)
LOL SP2 is your issue. MS likes to add little fine print that says you may get a watermark back on the system.