Hi,We operate a corporate environment and we are looking to move to Windows 7. We will go down the KMS road, but right now are using MAK keys.The problem we have is with the activation process. I performed a wireshark/ethereal of the activation process as it was failing, and found a crucial piece of information. During the activation process, Windows first goes to go.microsoft.com, which uses the user agent "SLSSoapClient" which is fine: POST http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88339 HTTP/1.1 Accept: text/* User-Agent: SLSSoapClient Proxy-Connection: Keep-Alive Content-Length: 0 Host: go.microsoft.com Proxy-Authorization: Negotiate From there it gets a redirect to "activation.sls.microsoft.com". This is where the problem begins. Notice no User-Agent: CONNECT activation.sls.microsoft.com:443 HTTP/1.1 Host: activation.sls.microsoft.com:443 Proxy-Authorization: Negotiate Our proxy then responds with an error, stating that the User Agent is not recognized. The only way we are able to allow activation to happen, is to modify the proxy configuration to allow the viral/malware trait of not providing a user agent - something we don't wish to do.We are using WebMarshal - but I'm sure it won't be the only filtering proxy out there to force standards compliance.Any ideas? Should I log a support call?Cheers,Ben.

Hi Ben, Hope the following article can help you. How To: Activate Windows Server 2008 Core Edition with MAK key over the phone NOTE: The steps in this blog are specific to core edition and a MAK Key but the same general steps could be applied to the non-core edition and other types of keys.Hope it helps. Thanks.

Hi,Thanks for the response but I was really after a solution to the issue rather than just activating them all by phone 1-by-1.Cheers,Ben.

Hi Ben, Thank you for your reply. I would like to share the following information with you. 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.As workaround: Method 1: Configure the proxy server to disable Basic authenticationMethod 2: Configure your proxy server to exclude the URLs for the certificate revocation lists (CRLs) from the requirement for Basic authenticationFor more related informaiton, you can refer to the following Microsoft KB: Activation fails when you try to activate Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 over the InternetHope it helps.

Hi Ben, I had the same problem and found the resolution here: WebMarshal: Allowing Windows 7 and Office 2010 to Activate Hope this helps others with the same issue! Cheers! Paul