Activation deems my key as invalid

Question

I have a Windows Server 2022 Standard edition license key I obtained from Azure for Students (therefore from Microsoft directly), and it has worked perfectly fine for quite some time. I used it for a virtual machine, but I lost that VM when the disk used to store it died.

Now I'm trying to make a replacement VM and use that key for activation (I know the key only allows for non-commercial use, I'm still a student). But, every time I try to activate Windows, it tells me that "the activation server determined that the key is invalid".

What can I do? I never shared my key with other people (the document where I store it is password protected, and I'm the only one who knows such password), so I'm the only one who has ever used that key. I can't get it to work, and the Azure for Students Software portal won't give me another key (at least for now). Any ideas on how to solve this, or at least contact Microsoft for help?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi Carlos Barranco M

Your key is already in use for another VM, so you need to contact the Azure support team by following these steps:

1. Sign into the Azure portal.
2. Click Help + support.
3. Select Support Requests.
4. Select Create support request.
5. Select Subscriptions and Services.
6. Select the Issue type and Problem subtype.
7. Enter your question details.
8. Click Create.

The Azure support team will contact you to help you resolve this issue.

Hope it helps.

Kind regards,

Lei

Answer 2

Thank you for your reply. I don't know if I will be able to access the Azure portal (my Azure for Students subscription was cancelled because of the $100 credit being fully used, and I can't renew it until January next year because of the eligibility conditions), but I will try to follow your steps and see if they can help me.

If they can indeed resolve my issue, I will report back (and I'll make sure to mark your reply as an answer to my question, if that's the case).