Forum Discussion
Why is a fresh Enterprise Evaluation installation license expired?
Hello,
normally whenever I would install the Windows Enterprise Evaluation it would automatically activate the 90-day license. This has changed however as this time I did a fresh install (already tried both Windows 10 and 11) I get the Windows License is expired message in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
The System->Activation menu says We can't activate Windows on this device right now. You can try activating again later or ... Error code: 0xC004C032.
When I run slmgr /ato to activate I sometimes (not sure what the reason for change is - maybe this changed after I tried to change the product key to what I found supposedly is a "generic Enterprise key for recovery") get the same error as above - 0xC004C032 (running slui on that returns The activation server reported that new time based activation is not available) or 0x80072F8F (A security error occured).
I read that syncing the date/time might be an issue but as far as I can tell its synced correctly with time.windows.com
Any ideas about what the issue could be? Or has something changed in how activation works for evaluation distributions?
Any input is appreciated
Thanks
15 Replies
- It seems fixed
abbodi1406 It would seem so. I am also not getting the errors on a fresh install from the same ISO as before.
While this is, of course, nice, it would be great to know what happened and what can be done next time this happens ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- It happened before (two rimes in my count)
- yes, it works. The image is not changed. Just created a new VM
- Confirm that activation works now including on an image originally built last week that I ran sysprep on.
- I have this problem too. Win 11 Ent Eval ISO downloaded today, and it say "Windows License is expired."
- A colleague and I facing the same problem.
Our source is https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/virtual-machines/ or Quick Create in Hyper-V (with Windows 11 dev environment) which just point to the same image and that produces the error you describe.
That Image
Name Length (bytes) File Hash - SHA256
WinDev2308Eval.HyperV.zip 23614852159 5C0CA10815C475D057221091A7DA08DF5BBAC45B17937D511790C64500AE895F
Would be great if Microsoft could repair this soon. Jakub_Pavlat Same thing here. Adding my reply in the hope that this gets noticed.
I use the various versions to test my installers on a clean install - so my VMs typically aren't alive for more than 60 minutes and typically don't last more than a week (unless I forget about them 🙂 ) before being deleted .. which is why the 90-day eval is so useful to use fresh ISO installations of all the variants of the operating systems and the different languages.
Currently, it's a pain when I come back to view the installation test results and find it's turned off.
Dear MS, Please resolve. !!!.
- I don't have a solution for this either, but i can confirm the same thing is happening to me. I tried installing windows 11 ent eval in a virtual machine 15 times today with different setup parameters, and I was unable to pickup the 90 day trial license either. Even running a slmgr /rearm to grab a new license fails for the same reason. 2 weeks ago i installed win 11 ent eval from the same ISO image and it did grab a license then. I think we will probably just have to wait till Microsoft fixes this on their end. The error message code returned is an office license activation error code (0xC400C032) so maybe win 11 ent eval is being pointed to the wrong activation server, who knows??
- Chiming in that I too am in the same situation. New images built from Win10 enterprise trial (regular and ltsc) are expired immediately after installation and a few older builds that still have ~60 days left are expired if I try to reset them.
Of note, it does NOT appear to affect Windows Server 2019 right now as I am able to install and rearm trials today.FYI I have originally posted the same issue https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_licensing/why-is-a-fresh-enterprise-evaluation-installation/df0b8887-f89a-4cea-b565-834922f3c27a and there is a discussion ongoing as well
AnurinX exactly the same state - my best guess would be a combination of the key the ISOs use and the records for those on the activation server
Sath07 i think the error code is more universal - i think it's just more known from issues with activating the office suite rather than the eval licenses, but I could be wrong. I also tried an older ISO which I know worked before, so if the issue is contacting the wrong server it would have to be the server that changed.
boogle thanks for investigating - is the partial product key of the Server 2019 also "YG9R6"? any info you get from a working eval install is potentially gold
David_8086-i9 I think that is the common sentiment here 🙂 it is just super convenient to have a disposable install like that available
Hello,
I have the same problem as you have.
Look at the description on this screenshot - The activation server reported that new time based activation is not available.
So it seems that MS needs to update evaluation ISOs.
when using an windows evaluation dont let it expired so you can rearm it you now you can't rearm it cuz you let it expired. Just download windows pro in a cleanway
Jakub_Pavlat +1. Seems to have broken within the last couple days
