Windows Activation on AWS fails

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Sometimes it may happen that a Windows Server fails with the Windows activation when this virtual machine runs on AWS. I’ve stumbled across this issue from time to time, and with some research and trial & error, I was able to fix it. I haven’t been able to figure out what is causing this problem yet. But at least there is a solution that works. The solution is to activate Windows manually, and maybe “force it to its luck”. The following steps should help you to solve such a Windows activation issue.

Activate Windows manually

NOTICE: This guide is for Windows Server 2016 and later.

Reset Windows Activation Start the Windows Registry Editor as administrator (right-click → run as administrator) Navigate to the following location: ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionSoftwareProtectionPlatform Go to the right panel and right-click on SkipRearm Select the Modify option and a dialogue box Edit DWORD 32-bit folder should appear Here set the Value Data to 1 and click the Ok option Restart the server now
It is important to restart the server at this step. Otherwise, the next steps will not work. Reset Windows Activation timers Now go to the Start menu, and search