Convert Server 2016 Evaluation to Licensed – “This edition cannot be upgraded”

The other day it was necessary to me to convert from activated Windows Server 2016 Evaluation to Licensed. As I had a key I thought it would be matter of clicking Change product key in GUI ant entering a new key. So you either wade through GUI till you find this Change product key link:

Or directly run “slui” command. Both actions will open up this window for you:

But if you try to type license 100% correct and valid product key on activated Evaluation machine you will get this error:

“This edition cannot be upgraded?” And it might be confusing, especially if you did a quick check on edition installed and prepared appropriate product key… But check again, for Evaluation versions, edition value contains word “Evaluation”, so it is not “Datacenter”, but “Datacenter Evaluation”:

Now it is clear what is complaining about. But how to make it to accept full product key? You can use DISM for this:

dism /online /set-edition:ServerDatacenter /productkey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX /accepteula

This will require reboot and some waiting but will convert your Evaluation license to full, provided that you entered correct product key.

1 Comment

  • HelenHH says:

    That annoying bug has been in Windows Server for YEARS.
    I doubt Microsoft will ever fix it.
    It’s been reported countless times…. buy large numbers of users.
    Many users just fully installing the OS and start from scratch.
    Massive hours of pointless work.

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