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Windows Server eval: the 180-day treadmill

VPS Hosting by quinnbizz 23 replies 2.8K views
minh1987

Member

#11

For my clients in HCMC I just use Linux now. Used to do Windows Server eval for some legacy accounting software, but the rearm stress was too much. Moved them to Wine or Proton in one case, cloud VM in others. Microsoft pricing for legit licenses here is crazy compared to local income.

phở at 3AM, deploy at 4
SU

Member

#12

I priced this out properly last month. Windows Server 2022 Standard at a Swiss reseller is about 900 CHF for the license plus CALs. For a home lab or small project that is simply not justifiable. I understand why people rearm. I do not do it myself, but I understand.

quinnbizz

Member OP

#13

olespete said:
Some updates refuse to install on eval.

Wait, really? I never noticed this. Which KBs? I have been patching monthly via WSUS and never had a failure. Now you have me worried.

...
SO

Member

#14

quinnbizz said:
I have been patching monthly via WSUS and never had a failure.

I saw this with 2016 eval, not 2019 or 2022. Certain cumulative updates around 2021 would fail with "this update is not applicable to your computer" if the eval had been rearmed more than twice. Might be version specific.

Emre10

Member

8 #15

In Turkey we have many hosting companies selling "Windows VPS" that is clearly eval. They do not hide it, price is too low for real license. I tell customers: you get what you pay for. Some listen, some do not.

Izmir

Member

#16

Emre10 said:
In Turkey we have many hosting companies selling "Windows VPS" that is clearly eval.

My friend I find best price but I am honest about license. If it is eval I say eval. Some providers in Istanbul they do not say. Bad business.

LO

Member

#17

Following.

JA

Member

#18

I am on month 14 of rearm chain. Reading this thread and sweating now. Did not know about update issues. Going to migrate everything to Debian this weekend instead of buying license.

SE

Member

6 #19

Has anyone tried the "Automatic Virtual Machine Activation" route on eval? I know it is meant for Hyper-V guests with proper host licensing, but curious if anyone got it working on bare eval as a loophole.

olespete

Member

Trust No One

#20

ServersRahul said:
Has anyone tried the "Automatic Virtual Machine Activation" route on eval?

AVMA requires the host to be properly licensed with Datacenter. The guest detects the host via registry key. If your host is eval, AVMA does not help you. This is well documented on Microsoft Learn.

airgapped, encrypted, faraday'd, still worried

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