Hi All

I've been working on an unattended 2008 server build for my company and have the non R2 versions working perfectly. The problem I have is around putting our product key (MAK) in the unattended file with 2008R2.

If I include the key then I get a message saying 'The unattended answer file contains an invalid product key. Either remove the invalid key or provide a valid product key in the unattend answer file to proceeed with the Windows installation.' All the other setting from the autounattend.xml are applied correctly.

If I leave the key out of the answer file and let the server build complete without it and then 'Activate Windows' and use the same key it activates fine??????

Has anyone successfully intergrated thier MAK key in an unattended file being used with Server2008R2? do you put it in the same section as the non R2 versions?

Any help greatly appreciated

For info here is my autounattend.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <Disk wcm:action="add">
                    <CreatePartitions>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Extend>true</Extend>
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                    </CreatePartitions>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Active>true</Active>
                            <Extend>false</Extend>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                            <Label>SYSTEM</Label>
                            <Letter>C</Letter>
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                </Disk>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx</Key> - KEY REMOVED -
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </ProductKey>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
                <FullName>My Company</FullName>
                <Organization>MYORG</Organization>
            </UserData>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <SetupUILanguage>
                <UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>en-GB</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-GB</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OOBE>
                <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
                <SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
                <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
            </OOBE>
            <UserAccounts>
                <AdministratorPassword>
                    <Value>YwBjAGMAQgB1ADEAbABkADEAQQBkAG0AaQBuAGkAcwB0AHIAYQB0AG8AcgBQAGEAcwBzAHcAbwByAGQA</Value>
                    <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                </AdministratorPassword>
            </UserAccounts>
            <Display>
                <ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth>
                <HorizontalResolution>1152</HorizontalResolution>
                <VerticalResolution>864</VerticalResolution>
                <DPI>96</DPI>
                <RefreshRate>85</RefreshRate>
            </Display>
	    <FirstLogonCommands>
                <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>1</Order>
                    <Description>Turn off UAC and rename server</Description>
                    <CommandLine>c:\windows\system32\wscript.exe c:\windows\system32\firstrun.vbs</CommandLine>
                </SynchronousCommand>
            </FirstLogonCommands>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <InputLocale>en-GB</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-GB</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <AutoLogon>
                <Password>
                    <Value>YwBjAGMAQgB1ADEAbABkADEAUABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkAA==</Value>
                    <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                </Password>
                <LogonCount>4</LogonCount>
                <Username>administrator</Username>
                <Enabled>true</Enabled>
            </AutoLogon>
            <ComputerName>*</ComputerName>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <ExtendOSPartition>
                <Extend>true</Extend>
            </ExtendOSPartition>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <Identification>
                <JoinWorkgroup>WORKGROUP</JoinWorkgroup>
            </Identification>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <fDenyTSConnections>false</fDenyTSConnections>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <Home_Page>about:blank</Home_Page>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:c:/install.wim#Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERSTANDARD" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

See if this post helps you. MAK / KMS keys are a little different than Retail / OEM keys in Win7, unlike Vista. Since 2008R2 is Win7, you'll need to modify your unattended xml to have the key in the specialize pass (not the WinPE pass) for it to work.

Thanks very much for the response, I'm not back in the office until Friday so I'll give it a try then and post up the result.

Thanks very much for the response, I'm not back in the office until Friday so I'll give it a try then and post up the result.

Sorry for the delay in responding, as advised I added the MAK key to the specialize pass and all is now good

I had the same issue. If you're in Windows 7 WAIK, you can right click on each component and their children and select Help (or just F1). If you look at the help for the Product Key, you get this nice little nugget.

Comparison of Product Key settings

Microsoft-Windows-Setup\UserData\ProductKey\Key

Specifies the Windows image to install during Windows Setup. If this setting is used by itself, Windows Welcome will prompt for a product key.

Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup\ProductKey

Specifies a Product Key to activate Windows. If this setting is used, Windows Welcome will not prompt for a product key. This setting can be used with Microsoft-Windows-Setup\UserData\ProductKey\Key, and the two product keys can be different.

If you are using a Volume License Multiple Activation Key (MAK), it must be specified using this setting.