Installing Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on Windows 8 RTM

On August 16th, Windows 8 RTM became available through the Volume License Service Center (VLSC), for company with Software Assurance for Windows. Since the company I’m working for has an Enterprise Agreement and Software Assurance, I was able to download it and get the license key.

I had downloaded it already the day before through my Technet Plus subscription and installed it on my test laptop at home but now that it was available on the VLSC, I could install it on my work computer as well and this is exactly what I’ve done.

I decided to try upgrading directly from Windows 7 and it went very well. It warned me about the software I should uninstall because they are not compatible with Windows 8 and asked me to disable Bitlocker for the duration of the installation. It took a while but installed without any problem. My applications were still working after the installation and it kept all my data, customization and themes.

The only problem I had was when I tried to install the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT). I found out RSAT hasn’t been release yet for Windows 8 RTM but is was for Windows 8 Release Preview. You can find it here.

The catch is that it won’t install on Windows 8 RTM. Here’s the error message I got:

But after some research, I found how it could be installed manually. Here’s what I found:

• Download the RSAT for Windows 8 Release Preview from here.
• Extract the files in a local folder on your computer. You can use a tool such as WinRAR or 7zip or use the following command line:

expand –F:* Windows6.2-KB2693643-x64.msu c:\temp

• Start CMD with elevated privileges and go to the local folder where you extracted the .msu file.
• Then execute the following command with the full path and name of the CAB file in the folder:

pkgmgr /ip /m:c:\temp\Windows6.2-KB2693643-x64.cab

• Start Task Manager and wait until Windows Package Manager process stops running.
• There you go, RSAT is installed.

Hope this will be useful!

Windows 8 RTM Enterprise Activation issue

As a Technet Plus Subscriber, I was impatiently waiting for August 15th to get my hands on Windows 8 RTM. At about 1:00pm EST, it became available and I started my downloads (Pro & Enterprise in x86 & x64).  It was a bit of a challenge because the site kept giving me error messages probably because it was overloaded by people like me who wanted to get their hands on the latest release. Anyway, after a few tries, I’ve got my first download started which was the Windows 8 RTM Enterprise x64 version.

Getting the key was a challenge as well.  But around mid-afternoon I was finally able to get it. Then I started the installation on my test Laptop. The installation went well and it was very fast. It discovered all my hardware even though I had trouble finding some drivers when I installed Win 7 on it. For example, I had to install the Vista video card drivers on Windows 7 because they didn’t exist for Windows 7. But Windows 8 detected my video card, installed a Windows 8 driver for it and it’s working like a charm (no pun intended)!

The only problem I had was the Activation. I kept getting the same message over and over: “Windows can't activate right now. Error Code: 0x8007232B”

At first, I thought the site was overloaded like it was for the downloads and the keys. However, after a while I noticed that it wasn’t asking me for my license key and that it was trying to activate with a key that was already built-in. If you’re trying to activate your Windows 8 RTM Enterprise and you’re stuck like me, here are the solutions I found:

Option 1:

From the Charm bar, type SLUI 3. It will start the Windows Activation Center and prompt you to change your key. Once it’s done, you should be able to activate your copy of Windows.

 

Option 2:

From an elevated Command Prompt (CMD running as Administrator), run:

slmgr.vbs -ipk "YOUR_PRODUCT_KEY"

 

I used the Option 2 and I was finally able to do the activation. I’ve been using it since then and I really like it so far.

Good luck!