Original price was: $ 25.98.$ 11.99Current price is: $ 11.99. -54%
Genuine Windows Server 2016 Essentials — perpetual licence for 1 server, official Microsoft ISO, activated on Microsoft servers and delivered in seconds.
Microsoft Authorized Reseller
Every key is 100% genuine and legally sourced.
Verify our partner status →
Genuine Microsoft License · Lifetime Activation · Global License Key · Instant Email Delivery · 24/7 Expert Support · 180-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Open the Download & Activation Guide tab for step-by-step setup, the Product Specs tab for full technical details, and the FAQs tab for answers to the questions buyers ask most.
Your Windows Server 2016 Essentials product key is emailed within seconds of purchase, with the official Microsoft download link and the steps below. Plan around 30–45 minutes for a clean install. Follow the order shown and Windows Server 2016 Essentials activates first time.
Use only the Microsoft ISO linked in your delivery email. Never deploy a server from an unofficial or pre-activated image — on a server that is both an activation risk and a security one. The ISO is the genuine Microsoft media that your key converts to a full licence.
Write the ISO to a USB drive (or mount it on a VM/host), boot the installer, and choose the edition and experience you need — Desktop Experience for a full GUI or Server Core for a lean install. Complete the setup and sign in as Administrator.
The quickest route is the command line. Open an elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt and run:
slmgr /ipk YOUR-25-CHARACTER-KEYslmgr /ato
The first command installs your key, the second activates it against Microsoft. You can also use Settings → Activation if you prefer the GUI. Activation takes a few seconds.
Check the server has internet access, confirm the installed edition (Standard vs Datacenter) matches your key, and re-run slmgr /ato. If the host is offline or behind a strict firewall, use telephone activation with slui 4 — we supply the Confirmation ID.
Does the key cover Standard or Datacenter?
It matches the exact edition on the product page — install that edition and the key activates cleanly.
Is virtualisation supported?
Yes. Activate on physical hosts or virtual machines; the licence is the genuine Microsoft server licence.
Is this a one-time perpetual licence?
Yes — a perpetual licence with no subscription, activated for the life of the server.
Every Windows Server 2016 Essentials key sold by GetDigiMarket is a genuine Microsoft licence, sourced legally and checked before it reaches your inbox. Your purchase is covered by our 180-day money-back guarantee — if a key ever fails to activate, we replace it or refund you, no arguments. If you get stuck at any point, our support team helps you install and activate free of charge, usually within a few hours.
Prefer to have us confirm your device is ready first, or need a Confirmation ID for phone activation? Just reply to your delivery email and we will walk you through it.
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Essentials is a genuine perpetual server licence delivered as a product key with an official Microsoft ISO download link. You pay once, activate on Microsoft servers, and the licence never expires. Small-business edition for up to 25 users and 50 devices with no client access licences required.
Windows Server 2016 Essentials is a genuine perpetual server licence delivered as a product key with the official Microsoft ISO. Essentials is the small-business edition: up to 25 users and 50 devices with no client access licences required, which is what makes it so much cheaper than Standard for a small office.
Windows Server 2016 runs the roles that a business network is built on: Active Directory Domain Services for identity and single sign-on, DNS and DHCP, file and print services with DFS and deduplication, IIS for web hosting, Hyper-V for virtualisation, Remote Desktop Services for hosted sessions, and Windows Server Update Services for patch control. Management is through Server Manager, Windows Admin Center and PowerShell, and the same licence covers both the Desktop Experience and the leaner Server Core installation.
Security in 2016 is layered rather than bolted on: Credential Guard and Remote Credential Guard protect administrative credentials in memory, Just Enough Administration limits what an operator can do rather than granting blanket rights, shielded virtual machines protect guest workloads from a compromised host, BitLocker encrypts volumes at rest, and Windows Defender is present and managed centrally. For a small business without a dedicated security team, those defaults do a great deal of work with no extra licensing.
Essentials is the small-business edition: up to 25 users and 50 devices, licensed per server rather than per core, and crucially it requires no client access licences. That single difference makes it dramatically cheaper for a small office than Standard plus CALs. The trade is a hard user ceiling and a reduced feature set, so it fits an office that will stay small rather than one planning to grow past 25 people.
Client access licences are the part buyers most often overlook. Standard and Datacenter both require a CAL for every user or device that connects to the server, purchased separately from the server licence itself. Essentials does not require CALs at all. If you are unsure which model applies to your deployment, contact our support team before ordering and we will size it with you rather than leaving you to discover the gap afterwards.
Licensing Windows Server correctly matters more than with desktop Windows, because the rules cover cores, virtual machines and client access. Read the comparison table below before ordering, and if anything is unclear our support team will size the licence with you before you buy rather than after.
Windows Server 2016 requires a 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor, 512 MB of RAM as an absolute minimum and 32 GB of disk space, though any realistic deployment wants considerably more. It installs on physical hardware and on all major hypervisors including Hyper-V, VMware and Proxmox. Both Desktop Experience and Server Core installation options are available from the same ISO and the same licence key.
This is a genuine Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Essentials product key for 1 server, up to 25 users and 50 devices, delivered by email within seconds of payment. It is a one-time purchase with lifetime activation: there is no subscription, no renewal date and no expiry. Activation happens directly against Microsoft activation servers and creates a digital licence tied to your device, so a future reinstall of the same edition re-activates automatically. The key is brand new and never used, works in every country and every display language, and is covered by our 180-day money-back guarantee and free 24/7 expert support. Your delivery email also contains the official Microsoft download link, and the full walkthrough sits in the Download and Activation Guide tab.
| Standard edition | Datacenter edition | Essentials edition | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual machine rights | 2 virtual machines | Unlimited virtual machines | Physical or 1 virtual |
| Storage Replica and Spaces Direct | Limited | Full | Not included |
| Software defined networking | Not included | Yes | Not included |
| Typical use | Small and medium deployments | Virtualised and cloud hosts | Up to 25 users, 50 devices |
| Client access licences | Required | Required | Not required |
| Relative cost | Moderate | Highest | Lowest |
Essentials is dramatically cheaper for a small office because it needs no client access licences at all, but it caps at 25 users and 50 devices and cannot be extended. If you expect to pass that ceiling, buy Standard edition plus CALs now rather than migrating later.
Small offices with up to 25 users and 50 devices that need Active Directory, file sharing and centralised backup without the cost of client access licences.
Professional practices, workshops and family businesses running one server with no plans to grow past the user ceiling.
Anyone who priced Standard plus CALs, found the total surprising, and is looking for the edition designed to avoid exactly that.
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Product name | Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Essentials |
| Licence type | One-time purchase with lifetime activation |
| Devices covered | 1 server, up to 25 users and 50 devices |
| Delivery | Instant email with product key, official Microsoft download link and setup instructions |
| Activation | Online via Microsoft servers, or offline by telephone and Confirmation ID |
| Languages | All languages supported, global activation, every region |
| Platform | 64-bit server hardware, physical or virtual |
| Support lifecycle | Extended support ended 12 January 2027; the licence remains permanent |
| Guarantee | 180-day money-back guarantee and free 24/7 expert support |
Microsoft distributes the same software through several licensing channels, and knowing the difference is the most useful thing a buyer can learn. A Retail licence is tied to your Microsoft account rather than the hardware, so it can be moved to a replacement machine after being removed from the old one. An OEM licence binds permanently to the first motherboard it activates on and cannot travel with you, which is why it costs less. A Volume licence is issued to organisations under an agreement with Microsoft and is intended for use inside that organisation. All three are genuine Microsoft licences that activate on Microsoft servers. They differ in transfer rights, not in the software you receive. Every product page in our store states the licence type so you can choose deliberately rather than discovering the difference later.
The price difference comes from how the licence was sourced, not from what it is. Volume licensing economics, regional pricing and the legal secondary market for software licences, upheld by the Court of Justice of the European Union in UsedSoft v Oracle in 2012, mean the identical genuine licence that carries a three-figure retail price can be resold for a fraction of it. You download from Microsoft servers, activate on the Microsoft activation service and receive exactly the same software a full-price buyer receives. What you do not pay for is boxed packaging, retail shelf space and distributor margin.
The practical risk in this market is never legality for the buyer. It is seller quality. A key that arrives already used can only be fixed by the seller replacing it, which makes support the thing worth checking before you buy. We publish a support address answered 24 hours a day, replace any key that cannot be activated, and back every order with a 180-day money-back guarantee. More than 10,000 keys delivered at a 4.9 out of 5 customer rating is the record behind that promise.
Understanding activation removes most of the anxiety around buying a licence key online. When you enter a 25-character key, the software contacts the Microsoft activation service and exchanges the key for a licence token stored on the device. Microsoft records a hardware fingerprint, a hash built from components such as the motherboard and storage controller, and links the entitlement to it. That record is what people mean by a digital licence.
The practical consequence is that once activation succeeds, the licence lives on Microsoft servers as well as on your machine. Reinstall the same edition on the same hardware and it re-activates, often without you typing anything. Change a small component such as RAM or a graphics card and nothing happens. Replace the motherboard and the fingerprint changes enough that Microsoft treats it as a new device, which is when reactivation is needed, and that is a support ticket with us rather than a new purchase.
Activation is also not a licence check that runs constantly. After the initial handshake the software works offline indefinitely. There is no phone-home-or-stop-working behaviour in perpetual licences, which is precisely why they suit machines on isolated networks, in workshops, or behind restrictive corporate firewalls.
Each key activates one device. For several machines you order the quantity you need, and every key arrives in the same instant delivery email ready to assign. For imaging workflows, install without entering a key, capture your reference image, then apply each device key at deployment. On Windows the standard commands are slmgr /ipk followed by slmgr /ato, and both script cleanly across a fleet.
Whatever the scale, keep a record of which key went to which machine or asset tag. The day a drive fails and a licence needs recovering, that one spreadsheet is the difference between a two-minute fix and an afternoon of archaeology. Buying more than twenty seats? Contact our support team before ordering and we prepare the order and documentation for you. The same 180-day guarantee applies to every seat.
End of support is not a kill switch. When Microsoft stops issuing security updates for a product, the software carries on running exactly as it did the day before. Your files still open, your licence stays activated and nothing expires. What stops is the monthly stream of security patches, which matters most for anything that opens files or email from outside your own network.
The sensible way to read a support date is as a planning horizon rather than a deadline. On an internet-connected machine that handles email and downloaded documents, staying on a patched release is worth the modest cost of a new licence. On an isolated machine, a workshop PC, a lab instrument, a device that never touches the internet, running past end of support is a considered decision rather than a risk, and plenty of organisations make it deliberately.
Product key is the 25-character code, in five groups of five, that identifies your licence to Microsoft. Digital licence is the activation record Microsoft stores against your hardware after the first successful activation, which makes reinstalls self-activating. Installation ID is the long number displayed during telephone activation, exchanged for a Confirmation ID to activate offline. Confirmation ID is the code that completes telephone activation, available instantly through our free service instead of an automated phone line. Perpetual licence is a one-time purchase that never expires, as opposed to a subscription. LTSC means Long-Term Servicing Channel, a servicing model that receives security updates but no feature updates, designed for devices that must not change.
Orders are processed automatically and delivered by email within seconds, day or night, including weekends and holidays. Your delivery email contains the 25-character product key, the official Microsoft download link and step-by-step installation instructions. If the message does not appear within a few minutes, check your spam or promotions folder and search for GetDigiMarket. If it is still missing, our support team resends it immediately.
Support is free, unlimited and available 24/7 before and after purchase. Our specialists handle download questions, installation conflicts with older versions, activation errors and offline telephone activation. We do not consider a ticket resolved until your software reports as activated. Should a key prove impossible to activate and our team cannot resolve it, you receive a replacement or a full refund under the 180-day money-back guarantee, whichever you prefer.
Compare every release in our Windows Server licence keys range, from 2016 through 2025 in Standard and Datacenter editions. Desktop machines connecting to the server need their own licences: see Windows 11 and Windows 10, and equip them with Office 2024 Professional Plus or another suite from our Microsoft Office range.
Standard and Datacenter both require a CAL for every user or device connecting to the server, bought separately. Essentials requires no CALs at all. Contact our support team if you are unsure which applies.
CALs are licensed separately by Microsoft and are not included with the server licence itself. You need one CAL per user or per device that connects to the server, in whichever of the two modes suits your setup — user CALs are usually cheaper where staff use several devices, device CALs where several people share one machine. The server licence here covers the operating system on the hardware; the CALs cover the right to connect to it.
Yes. Windows Server installs on physical hardware and on all major hypervisors including Hyper-V, VMware and Proxmox. Licensing rules for guests differ by edition, so check the comparison table above.
Virtualisation rights depend on the edition. Standard permits a limited number of virtual instances on the licensed hardware, while Datacenter allows unlimited virtualisation on that hardware, which is usually the deciding factor between the two for anyone running more than a couple of guests. If you plan to run this inside VMware, Hyper-V or Proxmox, activation works normally, but licence the host correctly for the number of virtual instances you intend to run.
Yes. Both installation options come from the same ISO and activate with the same key.
Both installation options come from the same ISO and the same product key, so you choose during setup rather than buying differently. Server Core has no graphical shell, which means a smaller attack surface, fewer patches and lower resource use — it is managed remotely through Windows Admin Center or PowerShell. Desktop Experience gives you the familiar GUI on the server itself. Pick Core for infrastructure roles and Desktop Experience if someone needs to log in locally.
Yes. One payment, permanent activation, no subscription and no renewal date.
Perpetual means the licence has no end date: you buy it once and the software keeps running on that machine indefinitely. It continues to receive Microsoft security updates for the whole of that product’s published support lifecycle, which is listed in the Product Specs tab on this page. What it does not do is gain the new features Microsoft ships to subscription customers over time — the version you buy is the version you keep, which for most people is the point.
Within seconds of payment. Delivery is automatic by email, 24 hours a day including weekends, and includes your product key, the official Microsoft download link and installation instructions.
Delivery is automated rather than manual, so it does not depend on office hours — an order placed overnight or at a weekend arrives just as quickly as one placed on a Tuesday afternoon. The email contains your key, a direct link to the official Microsoft installer for this exact edition, and activation instructions written for this product. If it has not appeared within a few minutes, check the spam or promotions folder before contacting us, as automated messages carrying licence keys are occasionally filtered.
Yes. This is a genuine Microsoft licence key that activates against Microsoft’s own activation servers and returns a normal “Product is activated” status — not a generated key, not a shared key, and not a crack. You download the software from Microsoft’s own servers using the official installer link included in your delivery email, so the files never pass through us. The low price comes from how the licence is sourced through volume and secondary-market channels, not from what it is. If it ever fails to activate, you are covered for 180 days.
Lifetime. You pay once and the licence never expires — no renewals, no monthly fees, and no card kept on file. After first activation Microsoft stores a digital licence against the device, so the same edition re-activates automatically after a reinstall. The trade-off worth knowing: a perpetual licence keeps receiving security updates for its full Microsoft support lifecycle, but it does not gain the new features that the Microsoft 365 subscription adds over time. The version you buy is the version you keep.
Yes. This is a global licence key that activates in every country, and the software itself is fully multilingual — you choose your display language during installation regardless of where the licence was bought or where you are using it. If you activate in one region and later move continents, an online activation can occasionally be refused as a routine fraud check. That is not the key failing, and it is resolved in a few minutes through Microsoft’s automated phone activation, which our support team walks you through free of charge.
Yes. Buying a genuine, properly transferred software licence is legal. In the European Union this is settled law: the Court of Justice ruled in UsedSoft v Oracle (2012) that once a copy of software has been sold within the EU, the distribution right in that copy is exhausted and the licence can lawfully be resold. What matters is that the licence is genuine and properly transferred, which is exactly what separates a legitimate reseller from the grey market. We do not sell generated keys, keys from compromised accounts, or activation cracks.
Our support team is available 24/7 and works with you step by step until the software reports as activated, including offline telephone activation through our free Confirmation ID service. In practice almost every failure is one of three things: an edition mismatch (a Pro key entered on a Home installation), a leftover previous Office or Microsoft 365 install blocking the new one, or a genuinely faulty key. Send us your order number and the exact error code on screen — that usually identifies the cause in one reply. If a key cannot be activated you receive a replacement or a full refund under our 180-day guarantee.
Yes. Activation creates a digital entitlement on Microsoft’s servers, so reinstalling the same edition on the same device re-activates, often automatically and without you needing to re-enter the key. Keep your delivery email anyway — it holds both the key and the official download link, which saves hunting for the correct installer later. If you are moving to different hardware rather than reinstalling on the same machine, check whether your licence is Retail or OEM: Retail licences can be transferred, while OEM licences stay tied to the original motherboard.
A product key works without one in most cases, but linking a Microsoft account is worth doing. It is what makes the licence recoverable and reinstalls painless after a hardware change, because the digital entitlement is tied to the account as well as the device. For Office for Mac, signing in with a Microsoft account is how the key is redeemed in the first place, so an account is required there. Creating one is free and takes a minute, and it does not change how the licence itself works.
Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, Apple Pay and Google Pay, all over an SSL-encrypted checkout. Payments are handled by our payment providers, so we never see or store your card details at any point. Your key is released the moment payment is confirmed — the delivery is automated, which means an order placed at three in the morning arrives just as quickly as one placed at midday. You will receive the key and the official download link by email within seconds.
If your key cannot be activated and our support team cannot resolve the problem, you get a replacement key or a full refund — your choice — for up to 180 days after purchase. There are no restocking fees and no requirement to justify yourself beyond telling us what went wrong. To start, send your order number, the product name and the exact error message or code you are seeing; the code usually identifies the cause immediately. Refunds go back to the original payment method.
Trusted by thousands of customers worldwide for genuine Microsoft product keys at the best price — cheap Windows keys, Office lifetime licenses and Windows Server licenses with instant email delivery.
Authentic product keys sourced from authorized channels — every Windows and Office key activates directly on Microsoft servers.
Your license key arrives in your inbox within seconds of payment, 24/7 — no shipping, no waiting.
One-time purchase with permanent activation. If a key ever fails, we replace it free.
Volume licensing lets us sell cheap Microsoft keys — the same genuine license for a fraction of retail price.
Full refund up to 180 days if your key cannot be activated and support cannot resolve it.
Real Microsoft licensing specialists who solve download and activation problems before and after purchase.
very fast delivery, codes work great!
Recommend!
Fast delivery and a great price that’s what we got. Keep it up.
Windows Server 2016 Standard retail key worked!!! Great and quick service!
My key works perfectly, recommended
Worked well, as advertised. Will certainly use again.