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Error 1168 – The specified product key could not be validated.

October 9, 2019 By Damitha Anuradha 21 Comments

When you try to upgrade Windows Server 2019 Evaluation version to a licensed full version using a MAK volume license key you may receive below error message.

Error 1168
The specified product key could not be validated.
Check that the specified product key is valid and that it matches the target edition.

Error 1168 Windows Activation Error

To fix this first you have to install a KMS client key using DISM command line tool. Keys are available on https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/kmsclientkeys (Get your respective key from “Windows Server LTSC/LTSB versions” section)

Now open CMD or PowerShell with administrative privileges and execute below command.

DISM /Online /Set-Edition:ServerStandard /ProductKey:N69G4-B89J2-4G8F4-WWYCC-J464C /AcceptEula

For more details on “Set-Edition” option follow the article in here.

Once the above command is successfully executed you will prompt for restart the server. Restart the server and execute the below command to install the new MAK key which is available on Volume Licensing Service Center.

slmgr /ipk <product key>
slmgr /ato

Now the Windows Activation should have completed successfully.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Richard says

    January 15, 2020 at 2:11 pm

    Worked well, Thanks

    Reply
  2. Naim Morina says

    March 3, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    Thank you!

    Reply
  3. Abdurrahim K. says

    June 25, 2020 at 2:16 pm

    You Sir, know your craft very well! Thank you very much, worked like a charm. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Marvin says

    June 30, 2020 at 5:26 pm

    Thank you soooooo much,
    You make my day!

    Reply
  5. Bertrand says

    July 22, 2020 at 1:15 pm

    Hello,

    This is exactly what was needed for me !!

    Many thanks !

    Bertrand

    Reply
  6. Ravi says

    July 30, 2020 at 12:27 pm

    Have been working with MS support for 2 days and got no resolution. However, this helped me to activate the server instantly. Thanks much.

    Reply
  7. RyanL says

    August 7, 2020 at 8:31 am

    This may not work for MAK keys. Just resolved it with the following:

    Server 2019 Activation Error: Run “slui.exe 0x2a 0xC004F069” to display the error text

    I was trying to activate Server 2019 Standard in a virtual machine this weekend, and on trying to enter the license key I got an error code of “0x80070032″ which wasn’t very helpful. This led onto trying to use slrmgr -ipk to install the license key, which also failed with ” On a computer running Microsoft Windows non-core edition, run ‘slui.exe 0x2a 0xC004F069’ to display the error text””

    This can be worked around by using two DISM commands.

    Open an elevated command prompt, and type (or copy) DISM.exe /Online /Get-TargetEditions

    Then enter DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerStandard /ProductKey:ENTER-YOUR-SERIAL-KEY-HERE /AcceptEula (use key from below table if this is a MAK/Volume license key)

    It may get stuck on the 10% mark for a few

    Use one of the below keys first:
    Windows Server 2019

    Product GVLK

    Windows Server 2019 Datacenter WMDGN-G9PQG-XVVXX-R3X43-63DFG
    Windows Server 2019 Standard N69G4-B89J2-4G8F4-WWYCC-J464C
    Windows Server 2019 Essentials WVDHN-86M7X-466P6-VHXV7-YY726
    Windows Server 2019 Azure Core FDNH6-VW9RW-BXPJ7-4XTYG-239TB
    Windows Server 2019 Datacenter Semi-Annual Channel (v.1809) 6NMRW-2C8FM-D24W7-TQWMY-CWH2D
    Windows Server 2019 Standard Semi-Annual Channel (v.1809) N2KJX-J94YW-TQVFB-DG9YT-724CC
    Windows Server 2019 ARM64 GRFBW-QNDC4-6QBHG-CCK3B-2PR88

    Windows Server 2016

    Product GVLK

    Windows Server 2016 Standard Semi-Annual Channel (v.1803) PTXN8-JFHJM-4WC78-MPCBR-9W4KR
    Windows Server 2016 Datacenter Semi-Annual Channel (v.1803) 2HXDN-KRXHB-GPYC7-YCKFJ-7FVDG
    Windows Server 2016 Datacenter Semi-Annual Channel (v.1709) 6Y6KB-N82V8-D8CQV-23MJW-BWTG6
    Windows Server 2016 Standard Semi-Annual Channel (v.1709) DPCNP-XQFKJ-BJF7R-FRC8D-GF6G4
    Windows Server 2016 ARM64 K9FYF-G6NCK-73M32-XMVPY-F9DRR
    Windows Server 2016 Datacenter CB7KF-BWN84-R7R2Y-793K2-8XDDG
    Windows Server 2016 Standard WC2BQ-8NRM3-FDDYY-2BFGV-KHKQY
    Windows Server 2016 Essentials JCKRF-N37P4-C2D82-9YXRT-4M63B
    Windows Server 2016 Cloud Storage QN4C6-GBJD2-FB422-GHWJK-GJG2R
    Windows Server 2016 Azure Core VP34G-4NPPG-79JTQ-864T4-R3MQX
    WNCYY-GFBH2-M4WTT-XQ2FP-PG2K9

    Finally reboot and enter your purchased key:
    – Enter key via GUI
    or
    – slmgr.vbs /ipk
    – slmgr.vbs /ato

    Reply
    • Ilyes BOUCHAOUR says

      December 11, 2020 at 3:56 pm

      But when I try with the GUI interface it works

      Reply
    • shijin says

      May 11, 2022 at 11:55 am

      thank you …..

      Reply
  8. Richard Simons says

    August 14, 2020 at 3:04 am

    Muchas gracias, funcionó perfectamente. Suerte.

    Reply
  9. Alex says

    August 14, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    That was hard to find on the web but easy fixed. Thanks a bunch!

    Reply
  10. Torkild says

    September 2, 2020 at 2:39 am

    Thanks!!!!! This saved both me and my user’s day!

    As Alex said, this was hard to find. I have been on the phone with two separate Microsoft support reps, and both told me to format the system disk and reinstall Windows 2019 from scratch. “The only way to activate an evaluation edition” they told me.

    They wouldn’t even listen to me when I referred to their own web site saying “When you complete your evaluation, you can convert your evaluation versions to retail. ” (from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2019). They told me “that only works sometimes”. Oh dear;-)

    Reply
  11. Shaik Altaf Hussain says

    September 29, 2020 at 11:56 am

    Struggling for whole day, got this blog and license activate in 20 minutes.

    Thanks

    Reply
  12. Ramon says

    October 6, 2020 at 4:13 pm

    Work for me!

    Reply
  13. Jan says

    January 26, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    Thanks so far, but what does

    “It may get stuck on the 10% mark for a few” mean ?
    A few hours, days, server generations ?

    Still waiting for hours to switch to 10.1%.

    May this be interrupted without problems ?

    Reply
  14. Selvin says

    February 8, 2021 at 4:25 am

    RyanL… I can’t thank you enough for the answer you posted. You are helping a lot of users like myself that are having the same issues. Thank you for taking the time to type out your answer in here, you never know how many people can be beneficiated by your post.
    Thank you and keep up the good work!

    Reply
  15. murtaza says

    February 18, 2021 at 1:23 pm

    great done

    Reply
  16. Dan says

    October 20, 2021 at 2:07 pm

    Hi has anyone done this on a domain controller without demoting it.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. windows 7 product key not valid mac – Find your Windows product key – Product Activation/Keys says:
    December 27, 2021 at 8:35 pm

    […] Error 1168 – The specified product key could not be … Error 1168 – The specified product key could not be validated. Once the above command is successfully executed you will prompt for restart the server. Restart the server and execute the below command to install the new MAK key which is available on Volume Licensing Service Center. slmgr /ipk <product key>. slmgr /ato. Now the Windows Activation should have completed successfully. […]

    Reply
  2. windows 7 product key not valid on mac – Find your Windows product key – Product Activation/Keys says:
    December 28, 2021 at 2:03 am

    […] Error 1168 – The specified product key could not be … Error 1168 – The specified product key could not be validated. Once the above command is successfully executed you will prompt for restart the server. Restart the server and execute the below command to install the new MAK key which is available on Volume Licensing Service Center. slmgr /ipk <product key>. slmgr /ato. Now the Windows Activation should have completed successfully. […]

    Reply
  3. windows 7 product key not valid error – Find your Windows product key – Product Activation/Keys says:
    December 28, 2021 at 2:17 am

    […] Error 1168 – The specified product key could not be … Error 1168 – The specified product key could not be validated. Once the above command is successfully executed you will prompt for restart the server. Restart the server and execute the below command to install the new MAK key which is available on Volume Licensing Service Center. slmgr /ipk <product key>. slmgr /ato. Now the Windows Activation should have completed successfully. […]

    Reply

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