I think the most IT guys are aware of the Windows Eval-Editions which Microsoft provides for 180 day usage. This EVAL Editions are really really great for Test and Demo Environment BUT if you are gooing to build an huge Demo-Environment which should be used after this 180 days period you can change the Evaluation Version to a full version – when you have an official and correct product key 😉

In this case, some servers were about to expire, but since this environment has become very extensive in the meantime, I no longer wanted to rebuild everything but keep this environment longer.

How can you now convert the EVAL Editions to a full version?

1.) open CMD as Admin (if this is not an DC)

DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerStandard /ProductKey:XXXX-27WPP-V4HQT-YYYY-ZZZZ /AcceptEula

After that, you can see that the new License-Key will change the Version to a Full-Version:

BUT, when you are gooing to restart your Server (you see the Update Screen) , do the double-check in the System-Config you can see that the License is not activated due do a KMS Activation Error:

To Solve this, you have to use the following Command with the same License Key from above in CMD:

slmgr /IPK XXXX-27WPP-V4HQT-YYYY-ZZZZ

After an reboot you are fully activated now: