Problem:

When you try to activate an evaluation or academic license, you see this error message:

Reason 20256: The activation of the fulfillment is denied by the virtualization policy.

You have encountered this error, because you attempted to activate an evaluation or academic license on a virtual machine. The virtualization policy for evaluation and academic licenses does not permit use on a virtual machine.

Solution:

You must activate your evaluation or academic license on a physical machine.

*If you are using a Mac operating system, it is recommended that you use Boot Camp to set up a dual boot machine. According to the Boot Camp support page: "Boot Camp comes with your Mac and lets you install Microsoft Windows. No need to download anything yourself — just open Boot Camp Assistant and it will guide you through the rest."

*This feature is only available on Intel-based Macintosh computers.