Activate the windows server 2022 show 0xc004c020

Question

I had the Windows Server 2022 Standard - 16 Core and I had activate the windows server license on the Hyper-V host and the guest VM, But When I activate another VM that it show up the error unable to activate windows and show below error code

Answer 1

Hello Tom Cheng,

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

The error code 0xc004c020 indicates that the Multiple Activation Key (MAK) has exceeded its activation limit. This typically happens when the key has been used on more devices than allowed by the Microsoft Software License Terms.  If you need more activations, please contact the Microsoft Licensing Activation Centers.

Or you could try to install DataCenter on host, then make use of AVMA licensing. Another advantage is being able to activate 2012 R2 to 2022 guests.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/automatic-vm-activation

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

Best Regards,

Daisy Zhou

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Answer 2

Hello,

You have run out of activations on this volume license key and need to contacct support to equest more activations be added to this key.

This error occurs when an MAK ( Multiple Activation Key) has all of it's activations used up.

List of Activation error codes.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/licensing-and-activation/troubleshoot-activation-error-codes

Darrell