Windows Server on Mexicali IT

Windows Server: How to Fix Software Protection Activation Errors

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 18:00:00 -0700

When deploying new Windows Servers from templates, cloning VMs, or performing major system upgrades, you might run into a frustrating issue where Windows refuses to activate against your KMS host or accept a retail key. Often, the system throws obscure licensing errors or the “Software Protection” (sppsvc) service repeatedly fails to start.

This failure usually stems from deep-rooted permission corruption within the Windows system folders. During cloning or upgrading, the built-in NETWORK SERVICE or sppsvc accounts lose their crucial read/write access to the local licensing store folders, making it physically impossible for the OS to retrieve or write its own activation state.

Windows Server: How to Configure Automatic Logon

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 17:40:00 -0700

In a production environment, Windows Servers are typically designed to remain on the lock screen until an administrator actively authenticates. However, certain legacy applications or specific GUI-based tools explicitly require an active user session to run in the background. If the server reboots and sits at the Ctrl+Alt+Delete screen, these applications will simply fail to start, causing painful outages.

This scenario is extremely common when dealing with specialized Virtual Machines (VMs) in a homelab or enterprise cluster where you need an application to fire up automatically unattended.

Windows Server: In-Place Upgrade Guide and Compatibility Paths

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 17:20:00 -0700

Upgrading a Windows Server traditionally involved standing up a brand-new virtual machine and meticulously migrating roles, data, and applications (a “clean install” migration). However, Microsoft’s In-Place Upgrade process has become phenomenally reliable, allowing you to upgrade the operating system of an existing server while keeping your files, settings, and complex applications completely intact.

This guide outlines exactly how to perform an in-place upgrade, the supported upgrade paths you must follow, and crucial compatibility warnings.

DNS: How to Enable DNS Debug Logging on Windows Server (and Why Be Careful)

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 15:00:00 -0800

When we deploy security solutions like Cortex XSIAM or centralize logs with Elasticsearch using Filebeat, one of the most common requirements is to ingest the name resolution activity of our Domain Controllers (DCs).

To achieve this, the first fundamental step is to enable DNS Debug Logging in the Windows DNS server configuration. However, this is not simply a matter of checking a box; There are critical technical and infrastructure considerations you should be aware of before implementing it in production.

How to extend the disk when there is another partition in between

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 10:00:00 -0700

Introduction

You’ve probably experienced this: you expand a virtual disk in Proxmox or VMware, go to Windows Disk Management intending to extend your main partition, and find that the “Extend Volume” option is grayed out (disabled).

Why does this happen? The reason is purely geometric. For Windows to extend a partition, the unallocated space must be contiguous and located immediately to the right of the volume you want to expand.

Windows Server: How to extend the trial period

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 14:00:00 -0800

Introduction

In this post, I will explain how to extend the trial license offered by Microsoft for Windows Server and why it is important to keep Windows Server activated.

As you may know, Microsoft offers Windows Server for free for a 180-day trial period. After this time, we “must” enter a valid license; otherwise, the system will be deactivated. This can cause a series of inconveniences, such as the deactivation of certain custom options, and the server will also shut down automatically after a period of time.

DHCP: How to Configure a DHCP Server from Scratch

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 22:39:01 -0800

Introduction

In this post, we’ll see how to configure a DHCP server, add the necessary role, and configure the scopes.

Having a DHCP server within your organization is essential, and here we’ll see the configuration step by step.

For this post, I’ll use the primary Domain Controller to add the DHCP role. While this is common practice in many environments, you should consider the number of clients that will be connected to avoid impacting server performance.