My license key is not working

Question

Good morning
We are trying to activate Exchange 2019 Standard Edition SE with the key that is provided on the MS portal. When we go to enter the key, it will not accept. I have a screenshot of the error message if needed.

Answer 1

Hi @Khoa Nguyen 

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum.   

Based on my research, if you are unable to activate your Exchange Server license through the EAC portal, you can try activating it by using the Exchange Management Shell. Here is how you can proceed. 

First, please verify the licensing status of the affected server: 

Get-ExchangeServer <ServerName> | Format-List Name,Edition,*Trial* 

If the server shows as unlicensed, you can apply your product key with the following command: 

Set-ExchangeServer <ServerName> -ProductKey <ProductKey> 

After applying the product key to a Mailbox server, please remember to restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service:

Restart-Service MSExchangeIS 

 

For your reference, another user confirmed that activating through the Exchange Management Shell worked for them even when activation through the EAC failed: Installing Exchange 2019 CU11 downloaded from the Action Pack; product key is no good | Microsoft C… 

You can also refer to Enter your Exchange Server product key | Microsoft Learn for more details about the process. 

If the issue continues after trying the PowerShell approach, please share your screenshot through a private message. 

Please check your inbox for an email with the subject “New private message on Microsoft Q&A question” to review my response, and look for “View message” in the banner above the post to access the private message chat. 

 

I hope this helps you move forward. If you have any updates, please feel free to share. 

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