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You installed Windows Server Evaluation for evaluating, testing, or training purposes. Now you want to apply a license key, but it’s not activating, and an error appears. That’s because you have to convert from Evaluation to Full Version first. After that, you can insert your license key. In this article, you will learn how to upgrade from Windows Server Evaluation license to Full Version.
Find Windows Server edition
You can find the Windows Server edition in the right corner and the days remaining before the grace period expires. The Windows License evaluation period begins and runs for 180 days.
Check the current Windows Server edition with the DISM PowerShell command.
DISM /Online /Get-CurrentEdition
Alternatively, you can run the Get-ComputerInfo cmdlet to display the Windows Server OS name and edition.
Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object WindowsProductName, WindowsEditionIdThe output below shows that Microsoft Windows Server 2025 Standard Evaluation is running.
Now that you have the Windows Server edition, let’s go to the next step.
Get Windows Server target editions
Check to which Windows Server versions you can upgrade to.
DISM /Online /Get-TargetEditionsThe output below shows that you can upgrade to one of the following editions: Server Standard or Server Datacenter.
Get Windows Server Generic Volume License Key (GVLK)
Find all the Windows Server OS editions and their GVLKs in the table below. Make sure to copy the correct Generic Volume License Key for your edition from the table. This key will be used to upgrade the Windows Server edition to that version.
| Operating system edition | Generic Volume License Key (GVLK) |
|---|---|
| Windows Server 2025 Standard | TVRH6-WHNXV-R9WG3-9XRFY-MY832 |
| Windows Server 2025 Datacenter | D764K-2NDRG-47T6Q-P8T8W-YP6DF |
| Windows Server 2022 Standard | VDYBN-27WPP-V4HQT-9VMD4-VMK7H |
| Windows Server 2022 Datacenter | WX4NM-KYWYW-QJJR4-XV3QB-6VM33 |
| Windows Server 2019 Standard | N69G4-B89J2-4G8F4-WWYCC-J464C |
| Windows Server 2019 Datacenter | WMDGN-G9PQG-XVVXX-R3X43-63DFG |
| Windows Server 2019 Essentials | WVDHN-86M7X-466P6-VHXV7-YY726 |
| Windows Server 2016 Standard | WC2BQ-8NRM3-FDDYY-2BFGV-KHKQY |
| Windows Server 2016 Datacenter | CB7KF-BWN84-R7R2Y-793K2-8XDDG |
| Windows Server 2016 Essentials | JCKRF-N37P4-C2D82-9YXRT-4M63B |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard | D2N9P-3P6X9-2R39C-7RTCD-MDVJX |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter | W3GGN-FT8W3-Y4M27-J84CP-Q3VJ9 |
Upgrade Windows Server Evaluation to Full Version
Convert from Windows Server Evaluation to Full Version with one of the commands below.
Server Standard version:
DISM /Online /Get-TargetEditionsServer Datacenter version:
DISM /Online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /productkey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX /AcceptEulaIn our example, we like to upgrade to:
- Windows Server 2025 Standard
- GVLK: TVRH6-WHNXV-R9WG3-9XRFY-MY832
In our example, we will run the command below in PowerShell to upgrade to Windows Server 2025 Standard.
DISM /Online /Set-Edition:ServerStandard /productkey:TVRH6-WHNXV-R9WG3-9XRFY-MY832 /AcceptEula
The output below appears. Press Y to restart the computer.
Verify Windows Server version
After the computer restarts, run the command to verify the Windows Server version.
Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object WindowsProductName, WindowsEditionIdThe output shows that the Windows Edition ID is Server Standard.
As you can see, Windows is currently not licensed. You can now use your purchased Windows Server license or using a KMS server to activate the Windows Server edition.
Conclusion
You learned how to upgrade Windows Server Evaluation to Full Version. Ensure that you license the Windows Server within the 180-day evaluation period. Otherwise, the Windows Server will shut down.
