When you need to do some testing or development work on a Windows server, obtaining a trial ISO of Windows Server is often the most convenient option. You can download a trial version of Windows Server 2022 directly from Microsoft here.
This is great but what if what you were testing has worked perfectly and you now need to convert your test server into a fully licensed production server?
You will find that if you try to activate Windows Server 2022 the normal way (by going into Windows settings) it will fail. If you try to get more technical and activate using via command prompt by using slmgr it will also fail! The reason for this is that the build and product version of Windows Server 2022 does not match the build and product version of the activation key.
Don’t worry you can get around this but you need to change the evaluation version of Windows Server 2022 to a licensed version before you can activate it. You can do this by following these 4 steps:
1 Launch a PowerShell or Command Prompt as an Administrator
2 Type dism /online /get-currentedition and press ENTER
3 Type dism /online /get-targeteditions and press ENTER
4 Type dism /online /set-edition:serverstandard /productkey:<YOUR-PRODUCT-KEY-NEEDS-TO-GO-IN-HERE>
After step 4 has been completed you will be prompted to restart your server, once restarted you will be on the correct build version of Windows Server 2022 and you will be able to activate it as normal.
If you need any help doing this, or anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
