DS7.x Error: "Invalid Product Key" when trying to perform a Scripted OS Install (SOI) with MAK licenses.
| Article:TECH154258 | | | Created: 2011-02-25 | | | Updated: 2011-02-25 | | | Article URL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH154258 |
Problem
When trying to perform a Scripted OS install (SOI), you might be stopped at the very beginning of the installation with an error that you have supplied an invalid license#. There is no way to recover from this and the installation stops.
Error
The following will appear on the screen as soon as the SOI begins:
The unattend answer file contains an invalid product key. Either remove the invalid key or provide a valid product key in the unattend answer file to proceed with Windows InstallationEnvironment
Deployment Solution - any version. Specifically, we've tested this in the current releases of DS 7.x, but because this is not a problem with Symantec, it will happen in any version.
Cause
This is a known limitation of the Unattend.XML "process" that Microsoft created. Per the following article: Deploying Windows 7 VL with MAK you can not use a MAK license type with Unattend.XML directly. Quote:"By design, the Task Sequence wizard is designed to support retail activation keys, not volume license keys." There are three possible work-arounds supplied by the article, but none of them involve inclusion of the license in the default XML itself. They either include a script, no key at all, or use of a separate file.
Here is another article about the same issue: Invalid Product Key Error Specifying MAK key in unattend.xml
Solution
Currently, you will either need to 1) use an Enterprise license instead with an Enterprise version of the product, or 2) manually create an Unattend.XML file to support your keys. For the latter, we can only recommend a thorough review of the supplied link above.
A feature request has been made to allow the use of a blank key. Another feature request has been made to create the CustomSettings.INI file and allow for manual entry of a license number during the actual installation - in real-time. No date or version of when/if these might be implemented is currently known.
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Article URL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH154258
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