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Windows EC2 instance created. WIndows not activated

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Very new to AWS. We created an EC2 instance. Chose Windows Server 2022 Base. The instance got created and we were able to log in with no issues. The license is missing... Am i supposed to supply my own license? Also, it shows that its a Windows Datacenter Edition.. was not expecting that. What are we doing wrong?

asked 6 months ago642 views
1 Answer
2

Usually when you provision an EC2 instance that's running Windows, you're paying for compure resources + a licensing fee (that's why a Windows EC2 costs more than an equivalent Linux instance).

There are a number of reasons that activation could have failed, the steps to take are described here https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/windows-activation-fails

Am i supposed to supply my own license?

There is an option to bring your own licence (BYOL), could you have selected that? https://aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/licensing/#Using_Microsoft_software_licenses_on_the_AWS_Cloud (note that it's difficult to "accidentally" select that, if you meant to go for the default option of paying for EC2 + licence)

General details about what you're paying for and what it entitles you to (including support etc.) is at https://aws.amazon.com/windows/faq/#ms-amz

The licensing section is also worthwhile if your issue isn't resolved at this point https://aws.amazon.com/windows/faq/#licensing

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answered 6 months ago
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reviewed 6 months ago
  • Thank you. Very informative. Ran through the options in the article you shared, but still getting the following message: We cant activate windows as we cant connect to the activation server... Error code 0xC004F074

    I ran the automation to activate both online and offline... But both failed. I Created a throw away instance and opened all ports in and out. Even disabled firewall just to see if this will work... Will not do it in prod obviously... Still no luck...

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