Windows Server 2016: Windows cannot find the Microsoft Software License Terms error when trying to install on an older machine

Software & Operating Systems Windows
1

I’m trying to install Windows Server 2016 Evaluation Edition on an older computer (It uses DDR2 RAM for reference).

I keep getting a “Windows cannot find the Microsoft Software License Terms” error when attempting this and it says to check the installation media.

I downloaded the installation media from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2016

I’m sure it’s fine. I tried Windows Server 2012 R2 as well, but get the exact same error.

This is on a Physical machine. Not in a Virtual Machine.

Does anyone know what my issue is?

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How much RAM are you using? Are you meeting the minimum requirements?

Also, is that CPU 64 bit architecture? 2012R2 and 2016 are 64 bit only.

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8GB. Yes as far as I’m aware.

Based on that, I meet and exceed all minimum requirements.

I assume so. I’m currently using 2008 R2 on it and it’s using 8GB of RAM (where I’m certain 32-bit only allows up to 4GB RAM usage maximum).

All my drives are SATA.

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So strange. 2016 has some oddball CPU requirements but 2012R2 does not.

How did you make the install disk? Do you have a Windows or OS X computer around to use Rufus? It may be that whatever made the installer messed something up

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Strange indeed.

I downloaded the ISO from the link in the OP and put it on an Easy2Boot USB drive:

http://www.easy2boot.com

If I attempt to install Windows 10 Pro 64-bit on this same machine using this same USB drive and an official ISO, it doesn’t stop me in the same way.

I’ve never had an issue before with this method, but I’ve never tried to install Server 2012 R2 or 2016 this way either.

I’ll try Rufus and just formatting the entire drive next and we’ll see if that fixes it.

It would be odd if that is the issue though because Easy2Boot supports Server 2012 R2 and 2016 ISOs.

http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/list-of-tested-payload-files/

WINDOWS INSTALLER ISOs - Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Server 2012, Multipoint Server, Server 2K8R2, Windows 10, Server 2016 - must be copied to the correct _ISO\WINDOWS\xxx folder. For Win8/8.1/10 you must specify the correct Product Key or you may get a ‘license’ error or some other error. Place Windows Multipoint Server ISOs in SVR2K8R2 folder.

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Yeah, that would be crazy. I started using Rufus when Linux and Windows 7/10 installers were failing via UEFI. It’s a pretty solid, minimal product. I am a huge fan.

Hopefully you get it worked out. Server 2016 with Hyper-V is pretty damn solid.

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Any luck with a different image maker?

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It’s a work thing. I will test it out in the next couple of hours. Thanks.

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A colleague of mine ran into this problem when he tried to install 2016 on a Dell PE 2950. Apparently 2016 does a check for certain processor registers that pre 2010 or 2011 CPUs don’t have. He found a workaround by using the command prompt to start the installation instead of the GUI.

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Could you ask him what it was and link me to it?

Googling only returns a lot of “how to install the GUI on a Core Installation of 2016” links.

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My apologies i just talked with him about it and it was an issue with installing the Hyper-V module of 2016 that he was having trouble with, not the installation of 2016 itself. It was several months back i guess i got the specifics jumbled.

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Well, using Rufus to put the ISO on my flash drive by itself worked fine.

I guess it’s just an incompatibility with Easy2Boot. Makes sense given how Windows Updates go.

Thanks everyone. :slight_smile:

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