A customer ordered a Windows Server 2022 Standard from me for their offices to be installed on a small HP Proliant ML cube.
Knowing that these servers no longer have DVD drives, and that I was unable to get ILO to work, I resigned myself to downloading an evaluation ISO of Windows Server 2022, and installing it like that.
The maneuver is official and recommended by Microsoft.
So after installation, I enter the activation key, and I get a beautiful error that only says activation is refused...
The problem seems to be because the downloaded ISO does not have the correct region.
Solution? Use a good old command prompt to activate the license.
Type the following command (you must run the command prompt as administrator with right-click > run as administrator):
DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerStandard /ProductKey:XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX /AcceptEulaOnce done, Windows will reconfigure itself, and the license will be activated.
It is then necessary to restart the server by enteringANDThenEnter
