When the server operating system is installed using the retail or volume licensing media, the operating system license must be activated. On the Server Core operating system, activate the license by using either the Server Configuration tool (Sconfig.cmd) or the slmgr command.
To activate the operating system license by using slmgr, see Slmgr.vbs Options for Volume Activation.
To activate the operating system license by using the sconfig command, see Configure a Server Core installation of Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server, version 1709, with Sconfig.cmd.
For volume activation of the Windows operating system in the data center, see the Microsoft documentation for using KMS.