Windows Server 2008 R2 - Trial Version Activation Error

Question

I downloaded a trial of Windows Server 2008 R2 a few months ago.  I may have loaded the ISO onto another PC for testing, but the testing is no longer active.  However,  I am testing a new environment where I need to load Server 2008 R2 onto
2 different servers for testing, before I activate.  I will be purchasing keys once my lab is fully functioning if needed.  One Virtual Machine will be moved to a server which will be running Server 2012 R2 Datacenter in the future.
Back to the problem at hand.  When I try to Activate my Server 2008 R2 copy to get 180 days trial started, it errors out with 0xC004F074.  We don't use a KMS Server, and anything I can find seems to refer to this as an error.  I just need
to activate a trial version.

Answer 1

Hi,
Thanks for posting here.
Regarding the current issue, please understand this error code appears only during the time of activation when the Software Licensing Service reports that it cannot activate the product key
since the Key Management Service cannot be contacted. Please follow the steps below to activate the machine again to see if it works.
1) Open cmd(command prompt) with administrator rights
2) Type slmgr.vbs –ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx (x should be replaced by your 25 digit product key)
3) Hit enter
4) Type slmgr.vbs –ato (This will change the product key)
5) Hit enter
For details, please refer to the following article.
Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 - Activation Error 0xC004F074
http://www.petenetlive.com/KB/Article/0000766.htm
How to Fix Activation Error 0xC004F074 in Windows 8 and 8.1?
http://atechjourney.com/how-to-fix-activation-error-0xc004f074-in-windows-8.html/
Hope it helps.
Best Regards,
Andy Qi
Andy Qi
TechNet Community Support