SOLVED: Unable to convert Hyper-V server 2019 Datacenter Eval version to full

John R 26 Reputation points
2021-02-15T22:15:48.883+00:00

This is all in Hyper-V. I have a Server 2019 Datacenter Edition OEM license on my physical hardware, with no roles except Hyper-V and Hyper-V Management installed.

I created a Server 2019 Datacenter VM using an evaluation license. Now I want to convert it to a full copy that will activate using AVMA on the using the Server 2019 Datacenter OEM license on the physical hardware. I use

PS C:\Users\Administrator> Dism /Online /Get-CurrentEdition

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.17763.1

Image Version: 10.0.17763.737

Current edition is:

Current Edition : ServerDatacenterEval

The operation completed successfully.

PS C:\Users\Administrator> Dism /Online /Get-TargetEditions

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.17763.1

Image Version: 10.0.17763.737

Editions that can be upgraded to:

Target Edition : ServerDatacenter

No problem, right? Using the AVMA key (from here) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started-19/vm-activation-19

I get:

PS C:\Users\Administrator> DISM /Online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /ProductKey:H3RNG-8C32Q-Q8FRX-6TDXV-WMBMW /AcceptEula

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.17763.1

Image Version: 10.0.17763.737

Error: 1168

The specified product key could not be validated.
Check that the specified product key is valid and that it matches the target edition.

I also get an error with
slmgr /ipk H3RNG-8C32Q-Q8FRX-6TDXV-WMBMW

error 0xC004F069, use "slui.exe 0x2a 0xC004F069" to display the error text

Running that gets me "The Software Licensing Reported that the product SKU was not found".

Both commands also fail using the OEM license key from the sticker and using the self-reported license key from inside the (fully licensed) server 2019 hardware.

How do I fix this? I have a license to use unlimited Server 2019 Datacenter Edition VMs on my 2019 Datacenter hardware, but how do I activate them? Am I looking in the wrong place and have an incorrect AVMA key?

----------

SOLVED! It took three steps.

1: Update the Configuration version of the VM to 9.0 (Hyper-V 2019 version) instead of 8.0 (Hyper-V 2016 version). I'm not sure why this was the older version.
2: Run dism set-edition using the hypervisor's PHYSICAL key (this did not work with Configuration version 8.0 but worked with 9.0)
3: Swap to the AVMA key using slmgr

And yes, do not use eval media in the first place for VMs, that was a bad idea.

Thank you very much for your help.

Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019
A Microsoft server operating system that supports enterprise-level management updated to data storage.
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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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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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Accepted answer
  1. Dave Patrick 426.1K Reputation points MVP
    2021-02-16T14:42:37.573+00:00

    Another option is to use the same product key that was used to activate host.

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

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  1. John R 26 Reputation points
    2021-02-16T15:13:44.337+00:00

    Thank you so much for your help @Dave Patrick and @AliceYang-MSFT .