Activation in Windows 7 uses the same steps and similar user interfaces as in Windows Vista. Where there
are changes to the activation interface, they have been made to reduce confusion and alleviate customer
issues with activation. As a result there is not a great deal of additional support knowledge required.
This course module is aimed at refreshing knowledge on the activation process, as well as the
troubleshooting steps for key activation issues.
Goals
At the end of this module, you should be able to:
• Outline the steps to check activation status and complete activation in Windows 7.
• Discuss key activation troubleshooting procedures.
Activating Windows 7
The choices for how Windows 7 will be activated begin with an option for Automatic Activation during
Setup. After that, the options for Activation are generally accessed from Computer Properties.
If you have installed Windows 7 without entering a product key you will only see notifications of the
activation grace period remaining. Activation will not be automatic, as a product key is needed before you
can activate.
Activation Steps
As in Windows Vista, you can find your current activation status at the bottom of the System control panel.
When you click “Activate Windows now”, the slui.exe activation wizard starts, with choices for online
activation, reminder, or other activation methods.
Choosing “Activate Windows online now” above proceeds with an attempt to activate, unless Windows
was installed without entering a product key. If you performed a keyless installation, the “Type your
product key” step is next, as shown below.
If you don’t enter a key, or enter an invalid key and then click Next, you will see the error:
You must enter a valid product key before activating online. Check your product key, and
type it again.
Once you enter a key, or if you have previously entered a valid key, the next step is “Activating Windows”
with a progress indicator.
If successful, the activation wizard ends with the “Activation was successful step shown below.
Other Ways to Activate
Beyond the online activation process, there is also activation by modem, and activation by phone just as in
Windows Vista.
Phone-based activation is commonly used when online activation has failed due to one of these reported
problems:
• The Product key you typed cannot be used to activate Windows on this computer
• The Windows 7 <edition> product key you typed is invalid for activation
Phone activation is also the best choice when a connection to the Internet is unavailable.
Activation Details
Understanding activation states and key types is important in order to determine the appropriate support
steps for activation issues.
States
Windows 7 can be in one of several license states. The following table shows a description for the License
Status entries you may see when using “slmgr.vbs -dlv” to view your license status.
Status Description
Licensed This is the status you should see when you have completed a successful activation. This is also
the state you are in when System Properties shows that Windows is Genuine.
Initial Grace This is the state you are in after installing Windows 7, before you have activated. This state has
Period a countdown, during which you will be reminded to activate, or Windows will attempt to
activate automatically (if that option was selected during setup).
Notification Once the grace period expires, you are required to activate Windows 7. You will see messages
to the effect that activation is required.
Additional Windows Activation checks for hardware changes to the system that could be associated with
Grace Period moving the installation to different hardware. If a threshold of change is crossed, you will be
prompted to reactivate Windows. This is done to protect against the use of a single activated
installation of Windows on multiple computers. You may enter this state after making a number
of changes to uniquely identifiable hardware, such as processors and network adapters. In some
cases a driver reinstallation may also be interpreted as a change in the device, such as if the
device is identified differently after a driver update.
Non-Genuine This is the state you enter after Windows Genuine Advantage determines that your computer is
Grace Period not genuine.
Unlicensed This appears for license types not currently in use on your machinee, which you can see using
“slmgr.vbs -dlv all”
You can view these and other text messages returned by slmgr.vbs by reviewing the slmgr.ini file in
\Windows\System32\slmgr\<language ID>.
Keys
When installing Windows 7, you provide a product key. This key, and the media it is used with, determines
the kind of activation experience you will have. The main consumer key types are:
• Retail key: This is the key that comes with a full-install, retail boxed or download copy of
Windows 7. It can be used for clean installation, for upgrade or for WAU.
• Retail Upgrade key: This is a type of retail key that comes with a reduced-price version of
Windows 7 and is to be used for upgrade only. Windows 7 provides for the use of this key type for a
clean installation as well, if you have a Windows installation currently on the PC.
• OEM SLP key: This is a key used for OEM systems that use BIOS-locked activation, a choice
common among larger manufacturers. This type of activation verifies that the license is being used
on a system from the correct manufacturer by checking for an identifier in the BIOS.
• OEM COA Non-SLP key: This is a normal OEM key without the special BIOS check. This type of key
is provided with copies of Windows marked for purchase with a new PC only.
The keys listed above are generally supported for use with retail or OEM installation media. This means
that you can reinstall Windows 7 from alternate media if needed, and still retain the activation experience
determined by your product key type.
In addition to these there are several types of volume licensing keys. These keys may come in a set, for use
in activating individual machines (MAK keys), or they may be related to enterprise-based licensing for
many machines (KMS keys). These key types are beyond the scope of this document, and are out of scope
for consumer Windows support.
For more information on key types and activation, see the bulletin “Product Activation for Windows Vista
and Windows Server 2008” here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5cb10f03-
27f6-461d-a3db-d440b4ced7f6&DisplayLang=en.
Troubleshooting
There are a variety of root causes associated with activation issues on Windows. The sections below outline
general troubleshooting for any activation issue, as well as recommendations for specific errors that are
more commonly encountered.
Logging
Activation events are logged to the Application Event Log from Source “Security-SPP”.
The activation server determined that the specific product key is in use: 0xC004C003
This error is typically related to re-using a key that has already been used to activate Windows. Check the
key to be sure you are using the correct key. If you are, it would be best to start with Windows Activation
support for assistance.
The following failure occurred while trying to use the product key:
The Software Licensing Service reported that the license evaluation failed: 0xC004E003
Troubleshooting for this issue is provided in the following Knowledge Base article:
950755 Error message when you try to activate a copy of Windows Vista: "The Software Licensing Service
reported that the license evaluation failed: 0xC004E003"
In addition to those recommendations, also use the standard troubleshooting steps provided above.
The following failure occurred while trying to use the product key:
0xC004F050
The Software Licensing Service reported that the product key is invalid
Troubleshooting for this issue is provided in the following Knowledge Base article:
950756 Error message when you try to activate a copy of Windows Vista by using the Windows Activation
wizard: "The Software Licensing Service reported that the product key is invalid: 0xC004F050"
This issue may also be resolved using the standard troubleshooting steps provided above, as the cause for
the key error could be damaged software licensing files.
The following failure occurred while trying to use the product key:
0xC004F061
The Software Licensing Service determined that this specified product key can only be
used for upgrading, not for clean installations.
This error is encountered when you perform a clean installation of Windows without entering a product key,
and then provide a Retail Upgrade key during the Activation wizard.
This path is blocked to prevent the use of the reduced-cost upgrade key for clean install usage. Resolve this
issue using the same steps as applied to the error in Windows Vista.
The URL provided to the customer in the warning message contains the error code and details on the type
of tampering event that was detected. This is done so that the page can provide specific guidance to assist
with the problem.
Use standard troubleshooting above as a start. If the service still will not start after renaming the tokens.dat
file, check the System Event Log for information on the service startup failure. Troubleshoot based on the
error reported there as you would for any service failing to start.
Reference
Windows 7 and Windows Vista include the slmgr.vbs utility to automate some activation actions, as well as
perform several troubleshooting and repair actions.
SLMGR.VBS
The slmgr.vbs utility provides several useful functions for examining the licensing state of the Windows
installation, along with a repair option for when there is a problem with the licensing components in
Windows. This utility includes the same functionality provided in Windows Vista.
To see the help for slmgr.vbs, use the command with no switches:
slmgr.vbs
Use Ctrl+c to copy the help text to the clipboard for pasting in Notepad. This can be helpful if your display
resolution is not large enough for all text to display. You can also run this script in the command line script
interpreter, for output of the help inside a command prompt window:
cscript slmgr.vbs
Options for the command execution include the following key switches that might be useful in Windows
support:
/dlv [Activation ID | All] Display detailed license information (default: current license)
Sample -DLI Output from an installation of Windows 7 Professional edition, still in grace period:
Sample -DLV Output from an installation of Windows 7 Professional edition, still in grace period:
Note that this installation also shows “Evaluation End Date”, which indicates that it is an installation with
an evaluation time bomb. This means that on the date shown here and in “winver.exe”, Windows will start
notifying you that it will be expiring. One month after this date, Windows will no longer start.
If this message is not displayed, check for errors in the previous lines of output, along with the event logs
on the computer.
Requirements
To perform this lab you will need the following:
• A PC with Windows 7 installed