Windows Server 2016 Datacenter VMs running on Hyper-V Server 2016

4

I misread something or I'm doing a terrible mistake here, hopefully you guys can help me.

I have set up a Hyper-V Server 2016 on my physical machine (or bare metal as it's called) which has 1 processor with 4 cores.

Afterwards, I connected with Hyper-V Manager and I set up 2 VMs and installed Windows Server 2016 Datacenter in both of them. So far so good.

However, when I set up a 3rd VM and installed Windows Server 2016 Datacenter in it, Windows said that my key is already used in another machine.

But... I thought I can create unlimited VMs with the Datacenter edition... right?

What am I doing wrong?

EDIT1: I exported my VMs (the ones with the datacenter key) AND I removed hyper-v server from my host machine and erased it. Then I installed Windows Server 2016 Datacentre with the Hyper-V role and used the Datacenter key to activate it. Windows still reports that my key has already been used on a different device. Error code: 0xC004C008

EDIT2: I re-imported the VMs to my host machine and I removed the datacentre key from the VMs and put the AMVA key TMJ3Y-NTRTM-FJYXT-T22BY-CWG3J (I found it here) to all of them. The host machine though remains dis-activated

EDIT3: I called Microsoft and activated the host machine by phone. At first the automatic activation system told me that I cannot activate this key and that I had to get another one. But actually I had to intentionally make a mistake during the automatic phone activation in order to reach another human being on the line. Finally, after I spoke with a human, my host machine and VMs were activated without problems. Thank you all!

virtual-machines
hyper-v
windows-server-2016
licensing
hyper-v-server-2016
asked on Server Fault Nov 7, 2018 by Dimitris Siakavelis • edited Nov 8, 2018 by Dimitris Siakavelis

1 Answer

8

What you did wrong is adding the key. Which you needed because... ah.

  • You should have installed Datacenter on Hyper-V. With a proper key that would auto activate any VM on it. Hyper-V on the host is not beneficial licensing wise in most cases, and technically means no auto activation.
  • There is pretty much zero benefit from installing Datacenter on a VM. Benefits are mostly licensing, on a level that is not useful outside of the host (due to the host on Datacenter auto activating client VMs).

That sort of sums it up.

answered on Server Fault Nov 7, 2018 by TomTom • edited Nov 7, 2018 by Humberto Castellon

User contributions licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0