Error when installing Server 2008 R2 SP1

I recently did an in place upgrade of my Server 2008 R2 Standard VM's to Server 2008 R2 Enterprise via

Dism /online /Set-Edition:ServerEnterprise /ProductKey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

as referenced here: In-place upgrade from Windows Server Standard to Enterprise or Datacenter

This went well except for now when I want to install SP1 I get the following errors in the CBS.log:

2011-02-23 11:58:30, Info                  CBS    SPI: Starting SPInstall version 6.1.7601.17514

2011-02-23 11:58:31, Error                 CBS    SPI: (CheckForPendingFlag:90)Failed to open component hive at C:\Windows\System32\config\components er=0x0

2011-02-23 11:58:31, Error                 CBS    SPI: (CSystem::Initialize:317)Failed to GetProductInfo GLE=0x0

2011-02-23 11:58:31, Error                 CBS    SPI: (wmain:939)Failed to initialize system hr=0x80004005

2011-02-23 11:58:32, Info                  CBS    SPI: SPInstall terminating, return code 0x80004005

2011-02-23 11:58:32, Error                 CBS    SPI: (SPIRegQueryStringValue:700)Failed to query registry value: MiscString2 er=0x2

2011-02-23 11:58:32, Error                 CBS    SPI: (CSystem::GetMachineName:395)Failed to query machine name from RAC hr=0x80070002

2011-02-23 11:58:32, Error                 CBS    SPI: (CCrimsonLogger::Unregister:50)Crimson logger not registered hr=0x8000ffff

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any resources on how to fix the Components hive (it exists and has the same permissions as a machine where the install successfully starts). This happens with the standalone installer as well as the windows update installer.

update switching back to the KMS key allows me to install SP1. Remains to be seen if RDP will work (another issue that cropped up as a part of this)

I figured out a workaround last night. I discovered it had something to do with my original MAK key and its reuse.

The original VM was a Server 2008 R2 VM with an MSDN MAK Key (which is valid for standard and enterprise edition)

I did the DISM upgrade using the "489J6-VHDMP-X63PK-3K798-CPX3Y" KMS key for enterprise (from this post) http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winservergen/thread/0c68ffd9-ed83-4437-aa79-2f7decc75c0f.

After the DISM upgrade I switched back to my original MAK key (and activated successfully). A secondary behavior of this was that Remote Desktop was no longer functional on any machine that used the MAK Key. I then did some additional research and found that other people had experienced the same problem using the DISM upgrade ( http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverTS/thread/6debc586-0977-4731-b418-ca1edb34fe8b ). On a hunch I switched back to the KMS key and was then able to install SP1 (and remote desktop was reenabled). I then tried a Std/Enterprise license from a different MSDN account and it activated successfully, as well as kept Remote Desktop enabled. I also tested switching back to my original MAK key and this worked as well. I then just switched the rest of my VM's to the new MSDN key and this was successful as well, without re-introducing the KMS key.

Best I can tell, there must be something unique to using the same key at each end of the standard -> enterprise DISM upgrade path.