Activating a Windows licence for an instance in private mode
Find out how to activate a Windows licence on an instance in private mode
Last updated 25/01/2023
Objective
Unlike Windows instances created in the public network, Windows instances created with private network mode (vRack) do not have their Windows licences automatically enabled. In this case, you must activate the licence manually to access all Windows services.
This guide is designed to help you configure the public interface for your Public Cloud instances within your vRack.
Requirements
- A Public Cloud project in your OVHcloud account
- Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
- An OpenStack user account
We recommend that you read our guide on Accessing the Horizon interface to familiarise yourself with Horizon.
Instructions
Attach an "Ext-Net" public port to an instance
Via Horizon
Log in to the Horizon interface using the method listed in the first part of this guide.
Choose the proper work zone.
Select Compute and then Instances from the menu.
To add an interface, click on the arrow in the “Actions” column to access the possible actions on the instance. Select Attach Interface:
Select your interface and confirm.
Via the OpenStack API
Before continuing, we recommend reading these guides:
First, retrieve all the necessary information:
- ID of your instances
openstack server list
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------+
| ID | Name | Status | Networks | Image | Flavor |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------+
| f095ad19-5c0a-4ef5-8e01-b3590bc9c6f1 | MyInstance | ACTIVE | | Windows Server 2016 Standard (Desktop) | win-b2-7 |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------+
- ID of public and private networks
openstack network list
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ID | Name | Subnets |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 1ca87837-7860-47a3-8916-c9c516841bf2 | Ext-Net-Baremetal | 1db089a7-1bd9-449f-8e3b-4ea61e666320, 4a614403-b8aa-4291-bd59-0cb2c81c4deb |
| 7394fc68-0f77-40d7-a274-388e7e75d82c | vlan 0 | f3fb67dc-7419-49da-b26c-7f64c480eb63 |
| 7a0e67da-70f3-48ed-a6e7-5ec265916211 | private-net | 57d9faac-f01c-43a2-8866-d9b1dd02cb9e, 5cb270a9-3795-4286-96fe-f3bfa3a328e5 |
| b2c02fdc-ffdf-40f6-9722-533bd7058c06 | Ext-Net | 0f11270c-1113-4d4f-98de-eba83445d962, 1a6c6b72-88e9-4e94-ac8b-61e6dbc4792c, 22e2d853-1b86-48f3-8596-9d12c7693dc7, 4aa6cac1-d5cd-4e25-b14b-7573aeabcab1, 7d6352a6-dbed-4628-a029-fcc3986ae7d6, 9f989c4b-c441-4678-b395-e082c300356e, b072b17b-ef1d-4881-98c7-e0d6a1c3dcea|
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
With the previously retrieved items, you can create a public port named "Ext-Net" on the subnet "Ext-Net" and attach it to the instance:
openstack port create --network b2c02fdc-ffdf-40f6-9722-533bd7058c06 Ext-Net
+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Field | Value |
+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| admin_state_up | UP |
| allowed_address_pairs | |
| binding_host_id | None |
| binding_profile | None |
| binding_vif_details | None |
| binding_vif_type | None |
| binding_vnic_type | normal |
| created_at | 2023-01-20T10:12:17Z |
| data_plane_status | None |
| description | |
| device_id | |
| device_owner | |
| device_profile | None |
| dns_assignment | None |
| dns_domain | None |
| dns_name | None |
| extra_dhcp_opts | |
| fixed_ips | ip_address='2001:41d0:304:400::128f', subnet_id='4aa6cac1-d5cd-4e25-b14b-7573aeabcab1' |
| | ip_address='57.128.42.227', subnet_id='22e2d853-1b86-48f3-8596-9d12c7693dc7' |
| id | ed34add5-aa76-4aab-97af-815724d76e2c |
| ip_allocation | immediate |
| mac_address | fa:16:3e:68:35:9c |
| name | Ext-Net |
| network_id | b2c02fdc-ffdf-40f6-9722-533bd7058c06 |
| numa_affinity_policy | None |
| port_security_enabled | True |
| project_id | 2098640de5e547289e3740b09e725ecc |
| propagate_uplink_status | None |
| qos_network_policy_id | None |
| qos_policy_id | None |
| resource_request | None |
| revision_number | 2 |
| security_group_ids | 9f60804a-0ecf-4738-a4d8-30a6bb0d20c2 |
| status | DOWN |
| tags | |
| tenant_id | 2098640de5e547289e3740b09e725ecc |
| trunk_details | None |
| updated_at | 2023-01-20T10:12:18Z |
+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Retrieve the UUID of the "Ext-Net" port:
openstack port list --name Ext-Net
+--------------------------------------+---------+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| ID | Name | MAC Address | Fixed IP Addresses | Status |
+--------------------------------------+---------+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| ed34add5-aa76-4aab-97af-815724d76e2c | Ext-Net | fa:16:3e:68:35:9c | ip_address='2001:41d0:304:400::128f', subnet_id='4aa6cac1-d5cd-4e25-b14b-7573aeabcab1'| DOWN |
| | | | ip_address='57.128.42.227', subnet_id='22e2d853-1b86-48f3-8596-9d12c7693dc7' | |
+--------------------------------------+---------+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
Attach the port to the instance:
openstack server add port <server_id> <port_id>
Activate your Windows licence
To activate Windows, you must go through Powershell.
Once you have logged in to your Windows instance, right click on the Start menu and select Windows PowerShell.
Enter the following command:
slmgr.vbs -ato
The Windows licence will be activated for 180 days.
You will need to repeat this operation every 180 days.
In the meantime, if you want to isolate your instance from the public network, you can disable the public port you have created via Horizon or the OpenStack API. You can also disable the network port directly via Windows.
To check the licence status and expiration date, use the following command:
slmgr.vbs -dli
Go further
Find out how to change the activation key of your Windows Server.
Join our community of users on https://community.ovh.com/en/.
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