Activation fails when you try to activate Windows Vista or Windows Longhorn Server over the Internet (921471)

Beta Information

This article discusses a Beta release of a Microsoft product. The information in this article is provided as-is and is subject to change without notice.

No formal product support is available from Microsoft for this Beta product. For information about how to obtain support for a Beta release, see the documentation that is included with the Beta product files, or check the Web location where you downloaded the release.

SYMPTOMS

When you try to activate any of the Microsoft Windows versions that are listed in the "Applies To" section, the Activation may be unsuccessful. Additionally, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

Activation fails with error code 0x8004FE33.
The following errors may be recorded in the Application event log:
Log Name: Application
Source: Software Licensing Service
Event ID: 8198
Level: Error Description: License Activation (SLUI.exe) failed with the following error code: 0x80004005
Log Name: Application
Source: Software Licensing Service
Event ID: 1008
Level: Error Description: Acquisition of Secure Processor Certificate failed. Status Code=hr=0x8004FE33
Activation is not successful, and you are not prompted for credentials.

CAUSE

This issue may occur when you connect to the Internet through a proxy server where Basic authentication is enabled.

When the proxy server is configured for Basic authentication, the server requires that you type a username and a password. However, the Activation user interface does not let you enter these credentials. Therefore, the Basic authentication fails, and activation is not successful.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Do not use Basic authentication

Do not use Basic authentication on the proxy server. However, if you must use Basic authentication, exclude the URLs for the certificate revocation lists (CRLs) from the requirement for Basic authentication. To do this, configure the following list of CRLs to be unauthenticated on the proxy server:

http://crl.microsoft.com/pki/crl/products/MicrosoftRootAuthority.crl
http://crl.microsoft.com/pki/crl/products/MicrosoftProductSecureCommunications.crl
http://www.microsoft.com/pki/crl/products/MicrosoftProductSecureCommunications.crl
http://crl.microsoft.com/pki/crl/products/MicrosoftProductSecureServer.crl
http://www.microsoft.com/pki/crl/products/MicrosoftProductSecureServer.crl

Method 2: Use the telephone to activate Windows

If you cannot use Method 1, click Use the automated phone system in the Windows Activation Wizard to activate Windows over the telephone.