VMware View 5.0’s “View Composer throws the error: 1/21/12 11:24:47 AM AST: View Composer agent initialization state error (16): Failed to activate license (waited 1295 seconds)” via the View Connection server administrator console

Problem

You’ve just successfully configured a new Vmware View 5.0 Linked Clone pool and vCenter has completed the cloning of the replica and linked-clones but when you log onto the View Connection server administrative console and review the status of the clones, you see the status of some linked-clone desktops listed with Error:

Clicking on the little icon beside the error message displays the following error:

1/21/12 11:24:47 AM AST: View Composer agent initialization state error (16): Failed to activate license (waited 1295 seconds)

Solution

There are various reasons that can cause this but the 2 I frequently encounter are the following:

#1 – The KMS server is not operating correctly

This can be because you’ve ran out of Windows licenses and therefore View Composer notifies you that the Windows operating system is not activated.

#2 – This is the first 25 virtual desktops your KMS server has attempted to activate

It’s important to understand that your KMS server will not activate your desktops’ Windows operating system if the count is less than 25 and therefore if this is a new deployment and your count has not reached 25 when you deployed the pool, you will have a few of these virtual machine desktops error out as such.  Some of the others will complete the activation but some wouldn’t.  The last deployment I did (where I got these screenshots) had a total of 26 desktops deployed and 7 reported this error.

The solution is quite simple, if there’s something wrong with your KMS server, troubleshoot and fix it.  If it’s because your desktop count was less than 25, simply select the desktops and recompose them:

Since your KMS server has reached the 25 desktop operating system count and has successfully activated some of the other desktops, the recomposed desktops should activate successfully when they attempt to do so again with your KMS server.