Depending on where the installation media was obtained from (MSDN, TechNet subscription download,..) the activation wizard by default will look for a Key Management Service (KMS) host on your internal network. It will not try to activate using the internet to reach Microsoft Activation servers.
The solution is to manually change the product key to a Multiple Activation Key (MAK) most likely provided with your MSDN or TechNet subscription.
To change the product key, use the slmgr.vbs script included with your Windows installation.
- Run the command prompt as an administrator
- Enter
slmgr -ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
wherexxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
is your product key.