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Server 2019 Not Activating

Installed Server 2019 Standard. I skipped the enter key during installation and when I then tried to change the key to activate it, it failed. Seems others have had the same issue. If you enter the key during install it solves the issue. Others have said to just reinstall. From this site found an easier solution.

From an elevated command prompt run the following:

cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk [2019-specific-mak-key]

where [2019-specific-mak-key] is where you type in your mak key without the brackets.

I believe the issue is when you skip the key entry it then will only activate using a KMS server. Running the command above by passes this and injects the MAK key for you.

 

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