Technical Tip: How to activate a Windows 7 license after exceeding the activation limit

Description

This article describes how to activate a Windows 7 license after exceeding the activation limit.

Scope

FortiSandbox.

Solution

Symptoms:
Dashboard displays a '!' beside Windows VM:

Scrolling over the '!' beside Windows VM, it is possible to see:

Logs may also display:

"Start activation WIN7X64VM with key xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"
"Failed to activate WIN7X64VM with key xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"
"Failed to activate WIN7X64VM message="Installation ID: yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Error: 0xC004C008 The activation server determined that the specified product key could not be used"  "
"Could not activate all the VM images with given keys. Please reburn other valid keys or reboot after changing your environment/network settings"

This scenario applies to '3: Errors due to Windows being activated too many times' in this article Troubleshooting Windows VM package activation and initialization issues.

Assuming Solutions 1 and 2 are unsuccessful, use the following steps to obtain a key to reset the activation limit.

1. Get the installation ID from the logs :
   
   Failed to activate WIN7X86VM message="Installation ID: 014305901762758475165340576945056666386683555262446271 Error: 0xC004C008 The activation server determined that the specified product key could not be used"
   
   
2. Split the Installation ID into 9 groups of 6 digits :
   
   014305901762758475165340576945056666386683555262446271
   
   Turns into:
   
   014305 901762 758475 165340 576945 056666 386683 555262 446271
   
   
3. Call the Microsoft Activation Service. Here is the phone list:
   
   Microsoft Volume License Key assisted support telephone numbers
   
   
4. Select the choice 2 – Business Customer.
   
   
5. Follow phone system instructions to enter the installation ID.
   
   
6. The phone system will ask some questions before accepting.
   
   
7. After the request is accepted. Write down the 8 groups of 6 digits.
   
   
8. Hang up.
   
   
9. Use the following CLI command on the FortiSandbox:
   Be careful not to attach space between the confirmation ID and the argument, as illustrated in the following example :
   
   confirm-id -a -kXXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX -c042532258754869596628901610621951021013844450525
   Confirmation ID has been added.
   
   
10. Confirm that the entry has been handled by the FortiSandbox:
    
    confirm-id -l
    XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX 042532258754869596628901610621951021013844450525
    
    
11. Reboot the FortiSandbox.
    
    reboot
    Do you want to continue? (y/n)
    
    
12. 2 minutes after the reboot, VM proceed to the activation. These logs should appear:

FortiSandbox system is up. Start initializing Sandbox VMs.

Start activation WIN7X86VM with key XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

WIN7X86VM was activated successfully with key XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Activate WIN7X86VM:"Activate windows successfully with key XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX Installation ID:

014305901762758475165340576945056666386683555262446271"

Note:

• It should be necessary to repeat the previous step for the second Windows 7 VM.
• For information, it is necessary to do the activation of Windows 7 before the active Office license.

Related Articles:

Troubleshooting Windows VM package activation and initialization issues

Log Reference: Troubleshooting FortiSandbox Windows VM package activation and initialization issues through logs