Vista Volume Activation Fails with WMI

[SugarDaddy]

Hello,

I'm looking for some help with a problem I am having with our
activation application. Basically the network at our organization
doesn't allow us to use the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT)
because it requires that the WMI ports be open on the firewall. We do
not have the luxury of being able to open these ports across the
network. So we created a new solution.

This pertains to Windows Vista Enterprise (Volume License).

Basically we have a ClickOnce app that runs on the Vista client. It
attempts KMS activation first. If that fails (for whatever reason),
it requests the user to log in and then downloads an encrypted MAK,
decrypts it, injects it into Vista using WMI InstallProductKey(string)
and then attempts to activate using WMI Activate(). The actual
activation is done in a separate process that runs elevated as
Administrator so I don't see the problem being a permission thing, but
I digress. In any case, the InstallProductKey method seems to
succeed. However, the Activate method fails with an exception, but
the exception has no message so I have no idea why it fails and the
best I can do is output a message that "Activation failed." which is
hardly helpful to us or the users.

I think it's also worth noting that the Registry Override is not
installed because our distribution cannot allow users to re-initialize
the product key (if it's installed in a lab or something).

Basically I can't find any documentation that discusses the exact
process that must be performed to activate with a valid MAK. What
does the WMI InstallLicense method do? What is the string parameter?
Could this by why my activations or failing?

 

[Jane C]

Volume Activation information for Windows Vista:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929712

A MAK key must be activated against Microsoft servers. Does your
application allow the internet activation?

 

[SugarDaddy]

Volume Activation information for Windows Vista:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929712

A MAK key must be activated against Microsoft servers. Does your
application allow the internet activation?

Thank you for the response.

I assumed that the WMI Activate() method executed the procedure
necessary to activate which I can only assume includes internet
activation. Is that not correct?

If possible, I'd like to not rely on using slmgr.vbs. Besides,
doesn't that VB Script use WMI anyway?

Is my procedure of using InstallProductKey and then Activate correct?

Thank you.

 

[Darrell Gorter[MSFT]]

Hello,
What is the error code you get when you get the exception?
You may want to look at the %systemroot%\system32\slmgr.vbs file and see
Private Sub InstallProductKey(strProductKey) and Private Sub
ActivateProduct().
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------
|>From: SugarDaddy <[email protected]>
|>Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
|>Subject: Re: Vista Volume Activation Fails with WMI
|>Date: 9 May 2007 06:15:38 -0700
|>Organization: http://groups.google.com
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|>Message-ID: <[email protected]>
|>References: <[email protected]>
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|>
|>> Volume Activation information for Windows
Vista:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929712
|>>
|>> A MAK key must be activated against Microsoft servers. Does your
|>> application allow the internet activation?
|>
|>Thank you for the response.
|>
|>I assumed that the WMI Activate() method executed the procedure
|>necessary to activate which I can only assume includes internet
|>activation. Is that not correct?
|>
|>If possible, I'd like to not rely on using slmgr.vbs. Besides,
|>doesn't that VB Script use WMI anyway?
|>
|>Is my procedure of using InstallProductKey and then Activate correct?
|>
|>Thank you.
|>
|>

 

[SugarDaddy]

Hello,
What is the error code you get when you get the exception?
You may want to look at the %systemroot%\system32\slmgr.vbs file and see
Private Sub InstallProductKey(strProductKey) and Private Sub
ActivateProduct().
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

I'm basically doing in C# code what slmgr.vbs is doing in VB. Using
the slmgr.vbs is not really an option because you have to pass it the
product key. That will compromise our program that keeps the product
key secure.

The exception has no information. And since the call to the Activate
method fails with an exception, there is no return value so no error
code. Is there another way to get the error code?

This is a very difficult problem to debug. And it seems that we're
seeing this problem only on certain machines so it's that much more
complicated. Our last resort is to give the user the product key and
have them enter it into the "Activate Windows now..." dialog in the
"Control Panel > System" window. That works, so it's even more
perplexing.

Thank you for the reply.

 

[Darrell Gorter[MSFT]]

Hello,
On a machine that fails can you attempt to run slmgr -ato and report back
the results.
This may generate an error message that may give us a clue as to what's
happening.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------
|>From: SugarDaddy <[email protected]>
|>Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
|>Subject: Re: Vista Volume Activation Fails with WMI
|>Date: 9 May 2007 10:59:55 -0700
|>Organization: http://groups.google.com
|>Lines: 28
|>Message-ID: <[email protected]>
|>References: <[email protected]>
|> <[email protected]>
|> <[email protected]>
|>NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.6.213.14
|>Mime-Version: 1.0
|>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
|>X-Trace: posting.google.com 1178733595 9399 127.0.0.1 (9 May 2007
17:59:55 GMT)
|>X-Complaints-To: (e-mail address removed)
|>NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 17:59:55 +0000 (UTC)
|>In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
|>User-Agent: G2/1.0
|>X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US;
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|>Xref: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl microsoft.public.windows.vista.general:97971
|>X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
|>
|>On May 9, 12:20 pm, (e-mail address removed) ("Darrell
|>Gorter[MSFT]") wrote:
|>> Hello,
|>> What is the error code you get when you get the exception?
|>> You may want to look at the %systemroot%\system32\slmgr.vbs file and
see
|>> Private Sub InstallProductKey(strProductKey) and Private Sub
|>> ActivateProduct().
|>> Thanks,
|>> Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
|>
|>I'm basically doing in C# code what slmgr.vbs is doing in VB. Using
|>the slmgr.vbs is not really an option because you have to pass it the
|>product key. That will compromise our program that keeps the product
|>key secure.
|>
|>The exception has no information. And since the call to the Activate
|>method fails with an exception, there is no return value so no error
|>code. Is there another way to get the error code?
|>
|>This is a very difficult problem to debug. And it seems that we're
|>seeing this problem only on certain machines so it's that much more
|>complicated. Our last resort is to give the user the product key and
|>have them enter it into the "Activate Windows now..." dialog in the
|>"Control Panel > System" window. That works, so it's even more
|>perplexing.
|>
|>Thank you for the reply.
|>
|>