When activating Windows Vista on an OEM branded desktop PC or notebook computer, other than error when using product key OEM COA label to activate online, there are many other possible errors that may occur when corporate users activate Windows Vista with KMS server, and problem on branded machine from OEM may invalidate KMS activation.

KB942962 (dead link) details more possible errors that may occur when users try to activate Windows Vista on a computer that was obtained from an OEM, similar to possible inactivation of KMS activation on OEM PC, but specific to BIOS version 2.00 (7BETB3BL) for Lenovo X60 released on 2006-08-07 and BIOS version 2.00 (79ETB3BL) for Lenovo ThinkPad T60, and possibly for other made of OEM BIOS too.

The symptoms will appear one of the following error messages:

Error message 1 of Symptom 1

Error Code: Invalid Volume License Key
In order to activate, you need to change your product key to a valid Multiple Activation Key (MAK) or Retail key.
You must have a qualifying operating system license AND a Volume license Windows Vista upgrade license, or a full license for Windows Vista through an OEM or from a retail source .
ANY OTHER INSTALLATION OF THIS SOFTWARE IS IN VIOLATION OF YOUR AGREEMENT AND APPLICABLE COPYRIGHT LAW.

Error message 2 of Symptom 1

Error Code: 0xC004F059
Description: The Software Licensing Service reported that a license in the computer BIOS is invalid.

Symptom 2

Error Code: 0xc004f035
The Software Licensing Service reported that the computer could not be activated with a Volume license product key. Volume licensed systems require upgrading from a qualified operating system. Please contact your system administrator or use a different type of key.

Behavior of symptom 2 occurs only when the following conditions are true:

  • You are using the Key Management Service (KMS) to perform activation.
  • The computer uses an ACPI_SLIC table in the computer BIOS program.

The problem occurs if the KMS server does not find a valid Windows marker in the ACPI_SLIC table in the computer’s BIOS program. There are 2 reasons that can cause Windows marker cannot be found in ACPI_SLIC table. Firstly, the Windows marker in the ACPI_SLIC table is corrupted. Or secondly, the Windows marker is not present in the ACPI_SLIC table, if the computer does not have a qualifying Windows operating system installed.

Resolution for corrupted BIOS is easier. Simply download the latest BIOS program that contains a valid Windows marker from OEM website who supplied the computer, and then update or replace the BIOS firmware.

If the BIOS does not contains SLIC tables and Windows marker (SLP 2.0 or OEM activation not compliant), users must use the MAK (Multiple Activation Key) product key to activate Windows Vista, and then activate online using Microsoft activation server, and not KMS server. Users change the product key by using the user interface in Windows Vista.

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