This should then automatically rearm your trial for 180 days. If you get this instead of it automatically activating for you, then all you need to do is to run the following command from an elevated command prompt: slmgr.vbs -rearm Once you have installed the evaluation copy you may see that it is not activated and when you try and activate, it will ask for a product key. The fact is, you do not require an evaluation key for using Windows Server 2012 R2. We have seen a number of people struggling with this and trying to enter a key to active it. If you are trying to evaluate Windows Server 2012 R2 then you will need to activate the software once you have completed the installation. Following on from our previous post about Windows Server 2008 R2 evaluation keys, we thought we should bring things up to date with Windows Server 2012 R2.
