Automatic Virtual Machine Activation (AVMA) is a new feature in Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V role, the feature is applied to activate licenses of virtual machines which are running Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard, Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter and Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials.
Stare quote from Automatic Virtual Machine Activation
On virtualization servers that are activated using Volume Licensing or OEM licensing, AVMA offers several benefits.
Server datacenter managers can use AVMA to do the following:
- Activate virtual machines in remote locations
- Activate virtual machines with or without an internet connection
- Track virtual machine usage and licenses from the virtualization server, without requiring any access rights on the virtualized systems
There are no product keys to manage and no stickers on the servers to read. The virtual machine is activated and continues to work even when it is migrated across an array of virtialization servers.
Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) partners and other hosting providers do not have to share product keys with tenants or access a tenant's virtual machine to active it. Virtual machine activation is transparent to the tenant when AVMA is used. Host provides can use the server logs to verify license compliance and to track client usage history.
End quote from Automatic Virtual Machine Activation
Using Automatic Virtual Machine Activation (AVMA), there are the following requirements.
- The Hyper-V host is a Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter host
- The Hyper-V host must be activated
- The Data Exchange Integration Services must be enabled for virtual machines
Goal
Using AVMA key to activate a virtual machine.
Prerequisites
- 1 Hyper-V host named HV02 which is installed Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter and activated
- 1 virtual machine named W2012R2 which is installed Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
Lab
1. On W2012R2, log in as Local Administrator.
2. Press "Windows Key + X", select "System".
Now, this virtual machine hasn't been activated.
3. Launch "Command Prompt" as administrator.
4. Perform "slmgr /ipk <AVMA_Key>" to activate the Windows.
Remark: Microsoft suggests employing the AVMA keys in any unattend.exe setup file.
5. Press "OK".
6. Back to "System".
W2012R2 has been activated.
According to Activating virtual machines via Automatic Virtual Machine Activation in Windows Server 2012 R2, we can locate to application log of event viewer in a virtual machine and Hyper-V host to verify the activation process.
Event ID 12309 from the virtual machine W2012R2
Event ID 12310 from the Hyper-v host HV02
References:
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