Convert a Windows Server 2025 evaluation to Standard
Changing an evaluation installation to Windows Server 2025 Standard in place with DISM
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Last Update il y a 12 jours
A server built on Microsoft's evaluation of Windows Server 2025 can be converted to Standard in place, and everything installed on it stays. The evaluation runs for 180 days, and Microsoft's Evaluation Center warns that "Evaluation versions of Windows Server must be activated over the internet in the first 10 days to avoid automatic shutdown."
Convert the evaluation
1. Open Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Check the current edition. An evaluation shows as ServerStandardEval or ServerDatacenterEval.
2. Check the current edition. An evaluation shows as ServerStandardEval or ServerDatacenterEval.
3. List the editions it can become.
4. Convert it with your product key.
5. DISM asks to restart the server to complete the change. Restart it.
6. Run slmgr /dlv. It should show Standard with no mention of an evaluation, and the activation status.
6. Run slmgr /dlv. It should show Standard with no mention of an evaluation, and the activation status.
Microsoft's limits on conversion
- "You can't convert an Active Directory domain controller from an evaluation to a retail version." Convert the evaluation before you install Active Directory Domain Services on it.
- An evaluation of Datacenter can only become Datacenter, never Standard.
- A Desktop Experience evaluation can't be converted to a Server Core installation.
- If Get-TargetEditions doesn't list the edition you want, the only route is a fresh installation of that edition.
Running setup.exe from the installation media doesn't change the edition either. In Microsoft's words, "the result is the same edition you started with."
Our blog's guide to Windows Server 2025 Standard covers conversion with the licensing background.