Problem
I set up a KMS server and installed the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) to activate the product keys. I was unable to add the Server 2019 keys. Server 2016 and Server 2022 worked without any problems. With Server 2019, I consistently received the following error message:
The specified product key is invalid or is unsuppressed by this version of VAMT.
An update to support additional products may be available online.
Cause
After some online research, I found similar issues with other Windows versions. Apparently, VAMT cannot correctly identify the key. Identification is done via the pkconfig files located in the folder
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\VAMT3\pkconfig
on the VAMT server.
Solution
After some research, it turned out that these files are existing on the specivic server/client operating systems. This can be found under C:\Windows\System32\spp\tokens\pkeyconfig
The relevant file is pkeyconfig-csvlk.xrm-ms located there.
This file is already present on the VAMT server. The solution is as follows:
- Rename the pkeyconfig-csvlk.xrm-ms file on the VAMT server
- Copy the file from the operating system to be activated to the directory (in my case, from a Server 2019)
- Start VAMT and enter the product key
- Close VAMT and rename the original pkeyconfig-csvlk.xrm-ms file on the VAMT server
I haven’t been able to identify this problem at a Microsoft article. Apparently, this issue already existed with Server 2012 R2. This article at least put me on the right track.