Hyper-V Manager and VM OS Licenses

Question

We have fully licensed Host hardware running Hyper-V. They only server as VM management stations so they qualify for two free VM licenses.

The Host is running Windows Sever 2019. We want the VMs to be running Windows Server 2012. How can we apply the free licenses to the VMs with the difference in OS installation?

Answer 1

If the host is a DataCenter edition you can use AVMA keys
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/automatic-vm-activation

If the host is Standard edition then the options are to stand up 2019 guests using the same product key as used on host, or potentially downgrade the Server 2019 license to 2012 R2 so the host and guests can be activated, or another option is to obtain 2012 R2 activations from another source.

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Answer 2

Hi there,

Use a host personal computer as the Local License Server to license virtual machines (VMs). This is particularly useful when your PC has multiple product software versions, each running on a unique VM.

You can also try the AVMA.AVMA lets you activate Windows Server virtual machines (VMs) on Windows Server Hyper-V host that is properly activated, even in disconnected environments.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/automatic-vm-activation

Hope this answers all your queries, if not please do repost back.
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