my Failover Cluster Manager (2 hosts with win2022 standard unlicensed) only create and show 1 vm

Hi quan trinh,

The issue is not directly caused by your Windows Server 2022 being unlicensed, but rather related to cluster configuration or the way roles are being registered in the cluster.

Here are a few things to check:

1. Make sure both VMs are actually created as clustered roles (right-click > Configure Role > Virtual Machine). If you create a VM directly on a host outside the cluster, it won’t appear in Failover Cluster Manager.
2. Verify that both nodes can access the same shared storage (CSV). If not, only one VM will appear.
3. Check under Cluster Events for any errors related to resource registration or storage ownership.
4. Once licensing is activated, I recommend running cluster res /online to confirm all resources are visible and properly registered.

So while the unlicensed status may limit some features or management behavior, the root cause here is almost certainly a cluster configuration issue, not licensing itself.

Please try the above steps and let me know how it goes! If this helps you move forward, please click “Accept answer” so others can find it useful too 😊

Jason,