Windows Datacenter 2022 Key won't activate on VMWare

Miguel Sanchez 26 Reputation points
2022-05-24T18:34:38.057+00:00

Good afternoon all,

I am running ESXi 7.0.2 on my Servers as Hypervisor. I just purchased a license for Datacenter 2022, which should have unlimited VM activations, to upgrade all my servers. The first VM activated fine, but now when I try to activate a second VM, it is giving me an Error 1168, stating the license is already in use. Does it detect ESXi VMs as physical hosts? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

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Windows Server
Windows Server
A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.
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Accepted answer
  1. Dave Patrick 426.1K Reputation points MVP
    2022-05-25T14:21:06.73+00:00

    Another option may be to try phone activation
    slui 4
    beyond this you may need to get in touch with the seller's trained microsoft licensing specialist.

    --please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

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  1. Alex BENEDETTI 0 Reputation points
    2023-02-20T10:16:46.0233333+00:00

    Hi.

    I have the same problem.

    New Windows Server 2022 Datacenter license and ESXi 7.x.x.

    The first machine gets activated, the others not, saying that the product key has already been used on another machine.

    I contactes MS Support and they told me that this will only work on Hyper-V, while on ESX only one machine can be activaded, and that I should run 1 Machine and run all others as Hyper-V machines inside the first one.

    I think this is simply unacceptable.

    I used Datacenter 2012 until now and I never had this issue.

    0 comments
  2. Dave Patrick 426.1K Reputation points MVP
    2022-05-24T20:21:18.62+00:00

    Not sure what this means. What channel is the product key? (OEM, retail, volume)

  3. Dave Patrick 426.1K Reputation points MVP
    2022-05-24T19:27:00.103+00:00

    Ok, when you use evaluation media you'll need to convert it. Assuming you are using a retail channel product key you can
    Dism /online /Set-Edition:ServerDataCenter /ProductKey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx /AcceptEula

    reboot

    --please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  4. Dave Patrick 426.1K Reputation points MVP
    2022-05-24T19:20:15.39+00:00

    What operating system was installed? What installation media was used?