Rearm Windows Server Evaluation

Here is something simple I have found extremely useful in my homelab. I currently use Windows Server to handle all of my Active Directory, DNS, and DHCP work. But since I’m not using a full license for windows in a homelab, it expires every six months. Not exactly ideal. So to handle this without having to rebuild or transfer all of the FSMO roles to a new instance. You can use a simple command. Just open an elevated command prompt and run the following command:

slmgr.vbs -rearm

Once your 180 days of evaluation is up, you can actually then re-arm the evalaution for another 180 days and you can do this up to five times. Now it is probably best practice to learn how to transfer FSMO roles for your sever. But this can give you some time to prepare for that instead of trying to make it happen within the 1 hour window “no pun intended” that Windows Server gives you before shutting down due to the expiration of the evaluation license.