Hey everyone! I recently started working with a new client who has a physical server running Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition, and it's set up solely as a Hyper-V host for four virtual machines. However, each of these virtual machines has the 'Activate Windows' watermark on them, and the command 'slmgr /dli' shows that they're using the VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel. I'm trying to sort out the licensing issues here, and I'm not very experienced with Windows Server licensing. I've checked the server roles but didn't find any KMS servers. I'm wondering what steps I should take to resolve this and if I'm overthinking it. Any advice would be appreciated!
3 Answers
You might want to check for a KMS server by looking for a _VLMCS DNS record. You can do this using the command 'nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp' to see if it’s pointing to a KMS server. If there's no record, then it likely means they're not activating through a KMS server.
It sounds like the VMs were installed using a volume license, which might explain why you're seeing that watermark. You should definitely ask your client where they bought their licenses from and use the command 'slmgr /ipk xxxxxxx' to install the appropriate keys on the VMs.
First, you'll want to check if your client is compliant with their licenses. Windows Server Standard limits the number of VMs you can run, typically only two per license. If they installed the VMs via the volume license ISO, they might just need to activate them properly. If they have a MAK key, they can't use a KMS server, so each VM would need to be activated separately.
Correct, Standard allows for two VMs. If you're unsure about the keys, check their Office 365 admin center for any MAK keys they might need.
Got it! I believe they probably only have the one license and I think I read somewhere that Windows Server licensing allows for downgrading to an earlier version. I'm looking at pricing for either a Windows Server 2025 Datacenter or two Standard licenses.