Windows Cannot find the Microsoft Software License Terms

Repair Windows installation licensing errors.

Problem:

   Windows 2012R2 license error reads, "Windows cannot find the Microsoft Software License Terms. Make sure the installation sources are valid and restart the installation".

Background:

  This error occurs after selecting the "operating system you want to install" in the Windows Setup wizard. This error occurs on VMWare, VirtualBox, or Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs). 

Solution:

   This licencing terms error occurs if there is not enough memory allocated to the virtual machine. Increase the VM's start-up memory in the VM settings to resolve.


22 Comments

  1. Hey did this the trick! thank you very much! I re-downloaded the ISO a couple times just thinking it was corrupted, but it was the low memory that the VM had as startup.

    Thanks!

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  2. OK however what to do when it happens on a physical box with 4GB of memory?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cyril. I recommend you first try to re-download the Windows server operating system ISO from Microsoft. I have seen instances where corrupt ISOs prevent installations for both applications and OSes. Good luck!

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    2. Just downloaded an evaluation from Microsoft, same results. Bummer!

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    3. Having the same issue with multiple Dell M600 blades. Anyone found a resolution for this on a physical box?

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    4. Thanks this worked for me too!

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  3. Thank you! Your suggestion did the trick. I am building a home study lab with Server 2012 R2 Datacenter and was trying to add a vm of Windows 8.1 Enterprise. It's now installing. Thanks again!

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  4. Thanks that worked for me

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  5. I was fighting this issue for a while thinking it may have been a corrupt iso. Just increased the startup ram as you suggested and that fixed it !!

    Thank-you.

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  6. Worked for me too! Thanks!!!

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  7. Using Hyper-V 2012. Needed to increase startup memory, as dynamic memory is not used yet during setup. This did the trick, increased it to 2GB.

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  8. You are the man!! thank you so much for your help

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  9. Thanks, this helped me too!

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  10. i got error while installing (windows 10 enterprise)


    "
    Windows cannot find the Microsoft Software License Terms. Make sure the installation sources are valid and restart the installation."

    do u know how to solve it???

    ReplyDelete
  11. What about for a host system? I have over 64GB of RAM on my server, and an 8-core Xeon...but I receive this error when the server reboots to run the Windows portion of the setup process. Intelligent Provisioning works fine, even verified the ISO, but after the reboot it's like it looses the ISO. I've tried 4 different downloads of the same ISO (MD5's check out), on 2 different USB sticks, and 4 DVD's. I have a DL360 Gen 9 server....all I keep seeing is issues with WM's but I am having the same issue with a physical host server. Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Try replacing the memory in the server. I understand that you may not have an extra 64GB handy, so you have two options:

      1. Boot the server with a memory checking utility. It should identify the bad DIMM.

      2. Remove all RAM except for 2 x DIMMs. Boot server with reduced memory (e.g., 8GB) and determine if setup continues past the error point. Repeat if necessary. Hopefully the process identifies the problem.

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  12. Using Windows 10 (version 1511) ISO directly downloaded from MSDN and try to install on VirtualBox VM (Windows 7 Host). Same error message "Windows cannot find the Microsoft Software License Terms....". I checked the VM memory size and doesn't seems to be the issue. So, I started a new VM from scratch and used VHD instead of the default VDI. It resolved my issue and able to get to the License term window.

    Until now, I have never run into Windows OS installation on VirtualBox VM due to virtual disk format.

    Hope this may help someone.

    ReplyDelete
  13. setting my ram to 1gb from 512ms worked for me.

    ReplyDelete

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