By default the automatic MIT Vista activation assumes that the system will append ".mit.edu" to the name of the MIT windows activation server. Unfortunately NAT networking under Windows and Linux does not do this automatically. Instead activation does not happen. If you try to activate by hand, you get an error saying that the DNS host name is not recognized. Here are the steps to follow to set a default DNS suffix by hand, and enable the automatic Vista activation at MIT.
From the Control Panel select "System and Maintenance" to go to the "Welcome Center":
Click on "Show more details" to view System Information, such as the current host name, activation status, and whether or not your default DNS suffix is set.
Notice in the above example that the "Full Computer Name: does not have ".mit.edu" at the end. If you scroll down to see the Windows Activation status, you will see a prompt asking if you want to activate windows now, instead of seeing "Windows is activated".
Click on "Change Settings" in the "Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings" section. First you will see an alert to confirm that you really want to perform an administration task from the User Account Control system:
Click on the "Continue" button, and you will get the "System Properties" dialog box:
Click on the "Change..." button to get the "Computer Name / Domain Change" dialog box:
Click on the "More..." button to get the "DNS Suffix and NetBIOS Computer Name" dialog box:
Set the "Primary DNS suffix of this computer" to be "mit.edu" as shown and click "OK".
You will be warned that you need to restart, and to stop all applications. Click "OK".
Click "OK" on the "Computer Name /Domain Change" dialog box.
Click "OK" on the "System Properties" dialog box. When these dialog boxes are gone, you will see the prompt asking you if you want to restart now.
Click "Restart Now".
After the system restarts, go again to the Welcome Center from the Control Panel and inspect the system details. It should look something like this:
Notice that the "Full Computer Name" has ".mit.edu" at the end, and Windows is activated.