How to activate Windows Server 2016 Evaluation - This edition cannot be upgraded –

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This edition cannot be upgraded – How to activate Windows Server 2016 Evaluation

I found this post, it may help you activate your windows server.

Using Windows Server 2016 Eval edition, but meaning to install a Standard edition key.
Came here because the GUI activation failed when trying to change the Product Key.
This is what worked for me, running in Power Shell as Administrator:
Dism /online /Set-Edition:ServerStandard /AcceptEula /ProductKey:12345-67890-12345-67890-12345
The removal of packages was stuck at 10% for over an hour, but it eventually jumped to 88.5% and a few minutes later, it finished.
Rebooted, and it took about 10 more minutes of cleaning up.
Then, I had to run the GUI activation wizard again and type in the same Product Key in Control Panel --> System --> Windows Activation --> Change product key.
This time the GUI activation worked fine.

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I happen to have more than a couple of dozens Windows Server VMs in my HomeDC, starting with Server 2003 and ending with (the gorgeous) Server 2016.
I tested 2016 along with various products (including XenDesktop, Horizon View, VEEAM) since I first got my hands on the Tech Preview 1 and as per today, I have close enough to 15 VMs running with the 2016 Evaluation version. I didn’t really wanted to reinstall EVERYTHING just because Windows doesn’t want to switch “automatically” from Evaluation to the new Product Version for which I had a license, so I started digging into DISM.
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So, what’s to be done?
Open an elevated Command Prompt (Win+X, then A) and type:
DISM /Online /Set-Edition:ServerStandard /ProductKey:Your-VLK-Product-Key-For-WindowsStandard /AcceptEULA
NOTICE: If you have a Datacenter edition, you might need to set the edition to “ServerDatacenter” as it was the case for me.
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At the end (yeah, it takes a while…), the process might request a reboot, so reboot your server and then check the Activation status.
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PS: Not sure if this works for the Core edition. Didn’t had the time to test, but I guess it’s not working. Sad smile

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