When Exchange Server 2010 is first installed it runs as a 120 day time-limited trial.  Within that first 120 days, or preferably before you put the server into production, you must enter a product key to remove the server from trial status.

For multiple servers in the organization this can be achieved using the Exchange Management Shell.  First identify which servers are currently in trial mode.

[PS] C:\>Get-ExchangeServer | where {$_.IsExchange2007TrialEdition -eq "True"}

Name                Site                 ServerRole  Edition     AdminDisplayVersion
----                ----                 ----------  -------     -------------------
EX1                 exchangeserverpro... Mailbox,... Standard... Version 14.0 (Bu...

To enter the product key use the Set-ExchangeServer cmdlet with the -ProductKey switch.

[PS] C:\>$trialservers = Get-ExchangeServer | where {$_.IsExchange2007TrialEdition -eq "True"}

[PS] C:\>$trialservers | Set-ExchangeServer -ProductKey 12345-12345-12345-12345-12345
WARNING: The product key has been validated and the product ID has been successfully created. This change won't take effect until the Information Store service has been restarted.

Restart the Information Store on the servers and they are no longer in trial mode.

[PS] C:\>Get-ExchangeServer | fl name,*trial*

Name                              : EX1
IsExchange2007TrialEdition        : False
IsExpiredExchange2007TrialEdition : False
RemainingTrialPeriod              : 00:00:00

About the Author

Paul Cunningham

Paul is a former Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and Services. He works as a consultant, writer, and trainer specializing in Office 365 and Exchange Server. Paul no longer writes for Practical365.com.

Comments

  1. Mohamed Lukman

    installed exchange server how to get product key

  2. Paul Sathya

    Hello Paul,

    Need help here, We did a one hop migration from Exchange 2007 to 2013 to 2016.

    The license we purchased was for 2016 standard and enterprise.

    Mistakenly my engineer entered the product key on 2013 server.

    now how can i remove the key from 2013 (is that possible?) and have it on 2016.

    as i have remove 2013 now as migration is completed.

  3. hanzheng

    Set-ExchangeServer -Identity yourserver -ProductKey ABC12-DEF34-GHI56-JKL78-MNO90

  4. Mark Donne

    Wow, lifesaver!

  5. Robert

    Excellent!!!!

  6. Carl Barnes

    I downloaded a 120-day version of Exchange 2010. If I wanted to purchase a product key/license for the Enterprise edition, 3 questions:

    A. Which website do you recommend for purchasing the license?
    B. Once I purchase the license, how long will it take for it to be in effect?
    C. How long is the valid product key good for?

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