When you home lab and you don t have microsoft license for rds you have two options.
Windows server 2012 license expired extend.
How to extend windows server 2012 evaluation period website.
In this case you only have two options.
The evaluation version of windows server 2012 2016 is valid for 180 days and you can convert your trial version to retail.
Extend window server evaluation period has expired.
How can microsoft be so.
The rd licensing grace period has expired and the service has not registered with a license server with installed licenses.
So that is 900 days in total.
Reset windows server 2012 r2 rds 120 day grace period.
A remote desktop session host server can operate without a license server for 120 days after initial start up.
Windows activation is designed to be as foolproof as possible so microsoft s graphical tools keep it simple if you want to do something more advanced like remove a product key force an online activation or extend the activation timer you ll need slmgr vbs.
You can rearm it 5 times.
Yes in fact there is cool hack which allows you to reset the 120 day grace period on windows server 2012 r2 rds and we ll show you how.
Reinstall the server redeploy the vm or cheat a bit.
Extending the trial period.
But the good news is.
There is a solution.
Purchasing a new windows key activate windows through go to pc settings.
After window server evaluation period has expired you will found out unexpected behavior for your machine like unexpected shutdown restart every one hour approximately.
A rd licensing server is required for continuous operation.
First take a look at your desktop.
So your windows server 2012 r2 evaluation is shortly expiring but you still need that lab and cannot afford to reinstall os and setup all again.
You get this message when you load your windows server 2012 r2.
Windows server 2012 r2 evaluation lasts for 180 days.