I've got a Windows Server 2022 Standard Edition server that my boss bought, but unfortunately, he didn't supply me with a license key. The previous admin didn't manage the licensing well, and my boss now wants me to set up 2 VMs on this server. I believe that since I'm using the Standard Edition, I might be able to use the same key as the host to activate those VMs. Is there a way to extract the key from the registry or any tricks to license these VMs without entering the key manually?
4 Answers
If you've got the Standard Edition, you could always upgrade it if needed, but primarily you should look for the MAK key, which you can find in your Microsoft 365 admin center under Billing > Your Products > Windows Server.
You can pull the license key in several ways. If you bought a Dell server with OEM licenses, check the website's inventory with your support tag. If it was a volume license, it might be downloadable from your Office 365 portal. You can also try the registry; check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionSoftwareProtectionPlatform and double-click on BackupProductKeyDefault. Otherwise, there are key extractor tools available if needed.
Actually, you can run 2 VMs on a Server 2022 Standard with Hyper-V without any additional licenses, so you might not need to extract the key at all.
So can I just install the Evaluation version and keep using it indefinitely? I'm just trying to figure out how to license those VMs if I don't have the host key.
Standard Hyper-V is free to use, but don't forget you still have to license the actual server. For Windows Server licensing to cover the 2 VMs under Standard, you'll need at least 16 cores initiated on that host.
Yes, but you need to ensure the host is licensed accordingly to accommodate those VMs.
We really just require the Standard Edition for now; we were only running a few VMs on the old setup, and we're switching one to Ubuntu. Just trying to get these 2 VMs licensed.