Windows ROK: The following error has been observed regarding the installation of an HP Branded Windows 2012 / 2016 R2 ROK (Reseller Option Kit) license in a VMware ESXi 5.5 and newer environment.
The cause of this problem is that the Windows server does not recognize the “hardware” as an HP Proliant server, so the license will not succeed because a Windows ROK (Reseller Option Kit) license is being used.
There is a simple solution. A parameter can be added so that the VM “thinks” it is running on real hardware.
After creating the VM, go to Edit Settings / Options / General and select “Configuration Parameters”.
Add a row, paste “smbios.reflecthost” as the name and true as the value.
Please note that the VM must be shut down first to make this change. Hyper – V In case of Hyper-V the process is different. The way for Hyper-V environments is to add a registry key to the VM.
– Run the following command from the command prompt if the operating system is Windows Server® 2008 R2 with HP branding: Reg Add “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Virtualization” /v BiosLockString /t REG_SZ /d “Hewlett-Packard ”
NOTE: In the command line above after the word “Hewlett-Packard” there are 17 spaces before the quotation mark that must be entered as part of the command.
– Run the following command from the command prompt if the operating system is Windows Server® 2012 with HP branding:
Reg add “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Virtualization” /v BiosLockString /t REG_SZ /d “HP ”
NOTE: In the command line above after the word “HP” there are 30 spaces before the quotation mark that must be entered as part of the command.
