Server 2019 Volume licensing activation key not working

veronica_Duff 

Hi.

I had the same panic but I still had 56 days to go, but realized how many other places I did the same eval setup and thought oh no. I muddled through some of the suggestions below, but they didn't work.

However, I did get it resolved and i really want to share it with you or anyone else who gets stuck in this issue.

When you try to activate Windows server 2019 from evaluation version, you always get an error message “the product key you entered didn’t work. Check the product key and try again, or enter a different one.

The issue is that the Eval wants to be activated with a Retail key and NOT a Volume License key or a MAK.

Open a command prompt as administrator and enter the following:

DISM /Online /Set-Edition:ServerStandard /ProductKey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx /AcceptEula

I used the key below in the command line above from the site: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/kmsclientkeys to complete the upgrade.

       Windows Server 2019 Standard  N69G4-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

After you run the command line you will see a window like below. Wait for it to complete (15mins) and then reboot.

After the reboot, open the Cmd again as an Administrator and enter the following:

slmgr /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX (your OWN VLSC MAK key)

You will see this:

Apparently, you can type this:

              slmgr /ato

I actually didn’t know that and went to activate it from the Windows Properties screen and hit troubleshoot and then Activate after the troubleshoot completed.

I rebooted and its Activated with my own key now.