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.