2

I have an EC2 Instance Windows Server Datacenter 2008, and I'm getting an "Unable to Activate Windows" message. Even after following through the instructions here

Dave Beer
  • 350
  • 2
  • 9

1 Answers1

3

For some reason, the Registered KMS Machine name wasn't set. When I ran:

slmgr /dlv

There was no "Key Management Service client information" section.

The fix then, was to run the following to manually set a KMS:

slmgr /skms 169.254.169.250:1688

After which, you can activate windows again with the following:

slmgr /ato
Dave Beer
  • 350
  • 2
  • 9
  • Further info - this is documented in some more detail at https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/common-messages.html#activate-windows and https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/windows-activation-fails/ – Criggie Feb 07 '23 at 01:55
  • 1
    @Criggie yeah, I think the documentation has improved in the past 6 years and 7 months. ;) – Dave Beer Feb 08 '23 at 02:05