AWS Windows Server 2022 with SQL Server, license for Reporting Services?

Question

My client's SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) stopped working on their AWS instance of Windows Server 2022 with SQL Server. The SQL Server included with this instance is the Standard edition, which should include SSRS. No license key is provided when the server is created.

SSRS was not preinstalled, and it currently requires a license to transition from the time-limited free version. When attempting to run the SSRS installer from Microsoft, I encountered an error stating that the evaluation period has expired and I need to "upgrade to different edition before attempting to upgrade again."

If my technical questions involving proper licensing is off topic, please accept my apologies and kindly direct me to the proper forum.

Questions:

1. Is there a way to find the SQL Server Standard license key from my existing SQL Server installation on an AWS instance?
2. Will uninstalling the SSRS trial version and reinstalling it through the SQL Server Installation Center work without needing a separate license key?
3. What is the best approach to resolve the expired SSRS evaluation version on an AWS instance where SQL Server Standard is licensed, but no direct license key is provided?

Any guidance on resolving this technical issue of installing a properly licensed version of SSRS would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

AWS technical support helped me to find the product key. On Windows Server 2022, the SQL Server Reporting Server product key is stored in

C:\SQLServerSetup\x64\DefaultSetup.ini

This file's contents look like this, with the PID value containing the license key.

;SQL Server 2022 Configuration File
[OPTIONS]
PID="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX"

I attempted to run the Reporting Services installer, SQLServerReportingServices.exe, but it failed with an error, "Setup blocked. The following issues blocked Setup. Evaluation period has expired. Please upgrade to a different edition before attempting to upgrade again. View setup logs"

Then, I tried to uninstall Reporting Services, choosing the first the Upgrade and then the Repair options, but both of these failed with error "SQL Server Setup failed. Incorrect function (0x80070001)".

It was necessary to really uninstall Reporting Services, then run the installer for a fresh install. After that, I restored my ReportServer and ReportServerTempDb databases and re-entered my connection strings and credentials, and my site is back up for reports.