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I am an inexperienced Windows user, but need to use Windows server for my FileMaker server, so have a new hosted server. It is Windows 2008 R2.

In Control Panel > System and Security > System it says, "30 days to activate. Activate now." followed by a product ID.

I asked my hosting provider about this and they replied, "You can disregard the Windows Activation window. While activation is possible, Windows does not need to be activated in order to connect to and use the server desktop."

Please note that this is not a question about licensing per se. I'm just trying to clarify what "activation" means and whether it's important or not.

womble
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Doug Lerner
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    Activation and licensing are two completely different things. Per Microsoft, activation is required, meaning they require every Windows OS to be activated with a legitimate product key. Once the activation grace period expires you may receive notifications on the desktop that activation is needed, you may be limited to only installing critical and security updates, some functionality/features may be disabled, and the server may shut down every two hours. – joeqwerty Dec 30 '17 at 16:29
  • So in a nutshell, they're not doing you any service by telling you that activation isn't needed or required and I'm hard pressed to come up with any legitimate reason why a legitimate vendor would take such a tack. – joeqwerty Dec 30 '17 at 16:30
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    The hosting service said they will activate it. – Doug Lerner Dec 30 '17 at 23:43

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