Error In-Place upgrade Hyper-V Core 2012 R2 to 2019 [SET_PRODUCT_KEY operation failed]

Question

We have a Hyper-V cluster of 4 host running Hyper-V Core 2012 R2. I should upgrade them to 2019.
At the first host i stuck with a problem. All the VM-s are stopped and I'm trying to do an in place upgrade, but it only throws an error

0x80070490 - 0x2000E
The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during SET_PRODUCT_KEY operation.

The 2012 R2 is domain joined and fully up to date, I'm connecting to it with a domain user. The iso of the 2019 is the fresh version newly downloaded from my.visualstudio.com

What is wrong and how next?

Answer 1

Hello Szunomar P,

Had exact same issue.

Resolved it by using the KMS Client Setup Key during upgrade.

KMS client setup keys

Specifically this one:

Windows Server 2019 Datacenter WMDGN-G9PQG-XVVXX-R3X43-63DFG

On the other hand In-Place Upgrade is not a great idea. Microsoft does not support In-Place Upgrade and must be a good reason with that. The best practice, specially in the case of HyperV Hosts is to migrate the VMs from host to host:

-Shut down VMs
-Merge any checkpoints
-Export VMs to shared drive on new hardware
-Import into new host
-Update Hyper-V services on VMs
-Boot App server and test before booting AD
-Decommission old hardware

Hope it helps you!

Do not forget to vote if helpful or mark as an answer if it resolved your query!

Best regards!

Luis P

Answer 2

Most likely the underlying OS is corrupt / broken in some manner. The cleaner / much safer method is to stand up a new one, patch fully, migrate roles over to it.

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