OS Activation / Licensing - OS Test

Operating systems across physical, virtual, and cloud-based desktops must be properly licensed and activated to ensure continued functionality, security compliance, and access to updates. License activation validates the authenticity of the OS installation and enforces compliance with enterprise or vendor licensing agreements. In large or hybrid desktop environments, administrators often face challenges such as expired or invalid licenses, activation failures, or systems nearing the end of their activation grace period. Such issues can lead to restricted functionality, user disruptions, and compliance violations if not detected in time.

This test helps administrators continuously monitor the licensing and activation status of desktops by tracking key indicators such as the current license status, remaining time to license expiry, and available Windows rearm count. By providing early visibility into activation-related issues, the test enables timely corrective actions - such as reactivation or license renewal - ensuring uninterrupted operation, compliance, and stability across all desktop environments.

Target of the test : A Windows Systems Group

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results is reported for the system being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test:
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed. By default, this parameter is set to 1hr.

Host

The nick name of the Windows Systems Group component for which this test is to be configured.

Port

The port at which the specified Host listens. By default, this is NULL.

Inside View Using

To obtain the 'inside view' of performance of the systems - i.e., to measure the internal performance of the systems - this test uses a light-weight eG VM Agent software deployed on each of the systems. Accordingly, this parameter is by default set to eG VM Agent.

Report By User

This flag is set to No by default. This implies that the Windows systems in environments will always be identified using the system name. In other words, this test will, by default, report measures for every systemname. On the other hand, if you want this test to report the measures for every user on a system, then set this flag to Yes. In such a case, this test will report the measures for every username_on_systemname.

Report Powered OS

By default, this flag is set to Yes, then the 'inside view' tests will report measures for even those Windows systems that do not have any users logged in currently. The systems will be identified by their name and not by the username_on_systemname. On the other hand, if this flag is set to No, then this test will not report measures for those systems to which no users are logged in currently.

Is Cloud VMs?

This flag is set to Yes by default. The value of this flag cannot be changed. This implies that the cloud-based Windows systems in environments will always be identified using the login name of the user. In other words, in cloud environments, this test will, by default, report measures for every username_on_systemname.

DD Frequency

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. For instance, if you set to 1:1, it means that detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem.

Detailed Diagnosis

To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG suite embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability

  • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

License status

Indicates the current status of the license.

 

The values that this measure can report and the numeric values they indicate have been listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Licensed - Permanently activated 1
Licensed - Time-based 2
Unknown 3
Within the grace period 4
Notification 5
Extended grace 6
Error 7
Expired 8

Note:

By default, this measure can report the Measure Values mentioned above while indicating whether/not the updates are available. However, the graph of this measure is indicated using the numeric equivalents.

The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the Server name, Product key channel and the Details of the license.

Expiry Date

Indicates the number of days beyond which the license will expire.

Days

A decreasing value signals an approaching license expiry. Administrators should renew or reactivate the license before expiry to prevent functionality restrictions.

Remaining Windows rearm count

Indicates the number of times the license can be uninstalled and set to trial mode in case of transferring the license to another system.

Number

Rearm allows resetting the activation timer without requiring immediate license activation. A low or zero rearm count indicates that further activation resets are not possible, and the system must be properly licensed to avoid activation failures.