1.

How do I reactivate a machine that has gone into reduced functionality mode?

Without a Machine Access Key (MAK) or Key Management Server (KMS) online, you only have 30 days to activate. A notification will be displayed until you activate. If you near the 30 days without activating, you may extend your grace period in 30 day increments up until the 90 days mark. Once that limit is hit, your machine has been placed in reduced functionality mode until activated. This is the case if you download the Vista FDCC VHD after August 16. The following procedures will walk you through the steps to extend your grace period.

1. From a command prompt execute:
   slmgr.vbs –rearm
   This will allow another 30 day grace period.
   
   
2. If your system reaches the first 30 days without activation and your machine goes into reduced functionality mode the following steps can be preformed.
   1. Ensure you select Access your computer with reduced functionality.
   2. From Internet Explorer enter C:\Windows\System32 in the address bar. This should open a secondary window.
   3. Scroll until you find cmd.exe and right click and Run as Administrator.
   4. From the command prompt execute the cscript:
      c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -rearm
   5. The system should prompt you to restart and you have another 30 day grace period.
   6. To restart the system at the command prompt execute:
      shutdown /g

2.

What are the accounts and passwords that I can use to log on to the FDCC test VPCs?

Windows Vista - FDCC_Admin and P@ssw0rd123456
Windows XP - Renamed_Admin and P@ssw0rd123456

3.

I am having trouble downloading the VHD files with Microsoft Internet Explorer.  How can I download the VHD files?

There are known file size limitations when downloading via Internet Explorer (IE) 6 and 7.  More specifically, IE 6 has a 2GB file size limit, and IE 7 has a 4GB file size limit.  At present, no update is available for IE.  However, other browsers and utilities have been used to successfully download the VHD files.  Mozilla Firefox, Opera Web Browser, Curl, and GNU wget have all been confirmed as supporting download of the VHD files. You can download the segmented files and use WinZip to open the archive and extract the .vhd and .vmc files.

4.

Does NIST intend to have HTTP mirror or FTP alternate download sites available?

NIST is currently evaluating both HTTP mirror and FTP as additional mechanisms to download the VHD files.  Additional and alternate sites will be linked to the download site as they become available.