Automatic Virtual Machine Activation (AVMA) with Windows Server Datacenter (Update)

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728770a343b5458584f2a2aff6bd53b4 Automatic Virtual Machine Activation (AVMA) with Windows Server Datacenter (Update) 3

Behind the feature “Automatic Virtual Machine Activation” is a function in Microsoft Windows Server 2012R2 Datacenter, Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Datacenter and Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Datacenter for Hyper-V, but it works only with the Datacenter Edition activated. With this feature, all supported Windows Server operating systems since Microsoft Windows Server 2012R2 can be automatically activated by the Hyper-V host. But only up to the own version, which means that a Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter Hyper-V cannot activate Windows Server 2016. The limitation of this feature to the Datacenter Edition is due to the unlimited Virtual Windows Server Guests covered by the Datacenter License. The advantage is that it is now easier to assign the license to the corresponding datacenter license during a software audit on the AVMA license key.

On the installed server operating system, only one AVMA key must be entered during installation. These are, like KMS keys, always the same:

AVMA license key

EditionAVMA-Key
Windows Server 2012R2 DatacenterY4TGP-NPTV9-HTC2H-7MGQ3-DV4TW
Windows Server 2012R2 StandardDBGBW-NPF86-BJVTX-K3WKJ-MTB6V
Windows Server 2012R2 EssentialsK2XGM-NMBT3-2R6Q8-WF2FK-P36R2
Windows Server 2016 DatacenterTMJ3Y-NTRTM-FJYXT-T22BY-CWG3J
Windows Server 2016 StandardC3RCX-M6NRP-6CXC9-TW2F2-4RHYD
Windows Server 2016 EssentialsB4YNW-62DX9-W8V6M-82649-MHBKQ
Windows Server 1709 DatacenterTMJ3Y-NTRTM-FJYXT-T22BY-CWG3J
Windows Server 1709 StandardC3RCX-M6NRP-6CXC9-TW2F2-4RHYD
Windows Server 1803 DatacenterTMJ3Y-NTRTM-FJYXT-T22BY-CWG3J
Windows Server 1803 Standard C3RCX-M6NRP-6CXC9-TW2F2-4RHYD
Windows Server 1809 Datacenter H3RNG-8C32Q-Q8FRX-6TDXV-WMBM
Windows Server 1809 StandardTNK62-RXVTB-4P47B-2D623-4GF74
Windows Server 2019 Datacenter H3RNG-8C32Q-Q8FRX-6TDXV-WMBMW
Windows Server 2019 Standard TNK62-RXVTB-4P47B-2D623-4GF74
Windows Server 2019 Essentials2CTP7-NHT64-BP62M-FV6GG-HFV28
Windows Server 2022 DatacenterW3GNR-8DDXR-2TFRP-H8P33-DV9BG
Windows Server 2022 StandardYDFWN-MJ9JR-3DYRK-FXXRW-78VHK

The AVMA keys can be simply entered during the installation, or afterwards, like KMS client keys with the command:

slmgr.vbs /IPK <AVMA-Key>
AVMA2016 Automatic Virtual Machine Activation (AVMA) with Windows Server Datacenter (Update) 5

What does this feature help with?

  • The advantage is especially when several networks are hosted on one server that do not have internet access for a MAK or KMS activation.
  • The guest servers should not be activated via KMS in order not to falsify the number of servers activated via KMS.
  • For automated provisioning / deprovisioning of virtual machines, as MAK keys have a maximum activation number.
  • To determine which VM’s are already licensed with a Datacenter Edition during a license audit

Further information about AVMA can be found on Microsoft TechNet.

Current lists of serial numbers for KMS and AVMA


This article first appeared on Infrastrukturhelden.de in German.

This article is a translation of the Infrastrukturhelden.de article “Automatische Virtuelle Maschinen Aktivierung (AVMA) mit Windows Server Datacenter (Update)” (Published – 2019-01-08). Links may refer to other Infrastrukturhelden.de articles, these may also be available in English language.

Also it can be, that I still use screenshots of German systems. However, where it is possible for me with little effort, I insert screenshots of English systems.