I confirm the workaround for MSE works great. Kudos!

I'm having difficulty with the workaround...

When I try to run the first executable file, instead of having the option to continue, I am only given the option to cancel and exit out of the installer. I've tried running it on a Vista machine that I have, but it extracts the setup.exe file to a temporary location that I'm unable to locate when I search. Running the debugging tools on the first executable file errors out on me at some point having to do with an nt*.dll file. Any suggestions?

Got this resolved. The setup files are dumped into a temp folder on the C: root.

I also discovered in the process that I hadn't yet activated my copy of R2... odd.

Anyone get the Comodo Firewall to work on R2? IMO it still has the best control over outbd connections and registry access.

It's possible to force install non server versions of antiviruses or internet securities?

Hi,



Absolutely brilliant.

Thx to whomever sweated it out.

Cheers,

$

This workaround was fantastic, the first time. Now I'm getting an error.

First installation: Trial copy of WS2k8R2 during activation grace period
Used WinDBG method, everything great.

Second installation: License came in mail, so did a clean install. Used same method, first attempt said Windows not valid. Panicked, went to Microsoft's site, checked to make sure, yes it is valid. Tried to install again, it worked, but a message popped up saying I had 30 days to get genuine before MSE shuts down.

Any ideas? Is this a new version of the installer causing this? I have the old installer stashed somewhere on an external drive, I think, but if I simply did something wrong, I would rather uninstall / reinstall than deal with that.

EDIT: Tried uninstalling... can't. Says that I'm running an unsupported OS. Tried a few things like using WinDBG similar to the install to see if I could uninstall using the setup file outside of the add/remove programs dialog, no luck. Anyone have any idea on how to at least do that? (NOTE - Reinstalled, so that part isn't necessary for me at this time, but others may find it useful)

UPDATE - Ok, got it installed. Had to do two things:

1. Do not install any updates. (Using 2 with all updates failed for me, must be multiple issues...)
2. Instead of the WinDbg steps from the linked blog post above, used the steps posted here:
http://vspug.com/jeff102410/2010/02/06/install-microsoft-security-essentials-on-windows-server-2008-r2/
Note: the only change is that ctrl+break isn't used. The breakpoint is set, g is used to run the program, and it is left running.

In hindsight, I didn't use the exact steps posted in this thread, they might work just fine.

Something about using the first method was preventing the installer from being seen as validated, and something about one of the updates kept the software from seeing windows as valid once installed.

Now that MSE is installed and working, I am installing updates to see if that breaks things.

What is still needed - a good guide for removing the software. Just in case some update causes just what I experienced, MSE failing for one reason or another. Rather than reinstalling Windows, it would be easier to just uninstall MSE. I don't even know where to start on that, though I hope to poke around at it as I have time. Hoping someone more knowledgeable on it might already know the answer, or a large chunk of it.

Hi,

No idea what's causing your problems with MSE but I installed it on several occasions without a glitch.
I used both the method as described here and the one described on vspug. They're essentially the same anyways.

Furthermore, I did installs on non-activated machines with and without updates, used the MSE I had since a few months and an updated version and all went fine so honestly, I don't have a clue what's happening at your end.

I'll try uinstalling MSE on one of my machines and report back.

Cheers,

$

Hi,

Thanks for this topic and your answers wich helped me to tweak my WS2008R2.

I tried to install Microsoft Security Essentials to my computer. Now I'm stuck because MSE found my copy of windows isn't genuine.
All I do to prove my windows is genuine doesn't works (I have it from MSDNAA)

Today, I can't uninstall it so if someone find a solution it would be very helpful.

Hi,

Not sure if I understand the problem correctly.
The setup routine from MSE tells you the copy of W2K8S isn't genuine, goes on to install itself regardless, yet now you want to uninstall MSE anyway?

The MSE uninstaller does the same version checking as the seup routine would do so it will return an error code.
I think you'll need to run the uninstaller through the debugger as you've done for the setup to get that to work out successfully.

If that doesn't work there's always the blunt axe method + registry cleaning to get rid of it I suppose....



Cheers,

$