within the Virtual Machine Connection window when you first turn on the VM in
order to be able to press a key to launch the boot from ISO or the network. The rest of
the OS installation is the same as for a physical system. Note that if you are installing
Windows 8/Windows Server 2012 into a generation 2 virtual machine, the physical
keyboard will not work, because the keyboard driver required is not part of the
Windows 8 PE environment. Either use the onscreen keyboard during OS installation,
or if you really want to fix the problem, follow my instructions at the following
location:
[http://windowsitpro.com/hyper-v/ fix-vm-keyboard-problems-generation-2-virtual-](http://windowsitpro.com/hyper-v/ fix-vm-keyboard-problems-generation-2-virtual-)
machine
ACTIVATING THE GUEST OPERATING SYSTEM
Numerous types of product keys are available for operating systems, and your
guest operating systems are still just operating systems that need to be activated.
The product key specified during installation could be a Multiple Activation Key
(MAK) that enables multiple activations, or you may have a Key Management
Server (KMS) in your organization, which provides the ability to locally activate
operating systems. Windows Server 2012 introduced a new activation option,
Active Directory–Based Activation (ADBA), that automatically activates Windows
Server 2012 and Windows 8 operating systems (physical or virtual) when they
join the domain.
Windows Server 2012 R2 introduced a new option for Windows Server 2012 R2
virtual machines, Automatic Virtual Machine Activation (AVMA). With the AVMA
technology, if the Hyper-V host is running Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter or
above and is activated, then any virtual machine running Windows Server 2012
R2 (Essentials, Standard, or Datacenter) is automatically activated, provided that
the AVMA key is used during the guest OS installation. These keys are as follows:
Server Standard: DBGBW-NPF86-BJVTX-K3WKJ-MTB6V
Server Datacenter: Y4TGP-NPTV9-HTC2H-7MGQ3-DV4TW
Server Essentials: K2XGM-NMBT3-2R6Q8-WF2FK-P36R2
They are documented at the following location:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn303421.aspx
The benefit of AVMA is that the virtual machine is activated only while running
on an activated Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V host. If the virtual machine
were given to another organization or moved, it would be unactivated unless the
target host was also Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter and activated. The
Hyper-V host must be the Datacenter SKU because only Datacenter allows an
unlimited number of guest VMs running Windows Server.