Microsoft License on VMWare host

Mohammed Nadeem 151 Reputation points
2023-05-24T11:43:28.14+00:00

Hi,

We have the 3 host of VMware version 8.0 and already purchased windows server 2022 datacenter license covering all physical core of hosts.

Can I apply datacenter license to eatch VMWare host and activate guest VMs by Automatic Virtual Machine Activation key ?

Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019
A Microsoft server operating system that supports enterprise-level management updated to data storage.
3,444 questions
Hyper-V
Hyper-V
A Windows technology providing a hypervisor-based virtualization solution enabling customers to consolidate workloads onto a single server.
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  1. Dave Patrick 426K Reputation points MVP
    2023-05-24T12:42:33.9233333+00:00

    Unfortunately, you couldn't. AVMA activation only can work when the host runs a DataCenter operating system.

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/automatic-vm-activation

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

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  2. Mohammed Nadeem 151 Reputation points
    2023-05-25T05:07:40.8866667+00:00

    So How will I can apply windows datacenter license to VMware host,

    It this isn't possble than what is procedure to activate VMs on host.

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  3. Dave Patrick 426K Reputation points MVP
    2023-05-25T11:20:54.1233333+00:00

    So How will I can apply windows datacenter license to VMware host,

    Just hang on to the documentation for general record keeping.

    It this isn't possble than what is procedure to activate VMs on host.

    A DataCenter license provides for unlimited hosting but does not provide unlimited activations of host product key. In order to make use of unlimited hosting you should install a DataCenter host and use AVMA activations. This also provides the benefit of allowing activation ranging from Server 2012 R2 to Server 2022 both editions. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/automatic-vm-activation

    When you use another hypervisor the only option is to reuse the product key over and over, but unlimited activations of the host product key is not possible and at some point you'll run out at which time you'll need to contact microsoft in order to reset the activations count.

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

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  5. Mohammed Nadeem 151 Reputation points
    2023-05-30T05:15:12.6766667+00:00

    We have datacenter key so do we have to install all VMs with datacenter edition on VMware cluster ?

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