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How to Fix ‘This Copy Of Windows Is Not Genuine’ Error?
Windows 7 often shows “Windows is not Genuine” with an error code of 0x80070005. Read below to fix this error on your PC.
Symptoms:
As you log into the Windows, you see the following Windows Activation window:
Windows is not genuine
Your computer might not be running a counterfeit copy of Windows.
0x80070005
You may also notice the following symptoms:
The black background of your computer desktop with the following error message on the bottom right corner of your screen.
‘This copy of Windows is not genuine’
When you go to the System Properties (Control Panel / System and Security / System) the following error message will be shown:
‘You must activate today. Activate Windows now
If you try to use slmgr.vbs /dlv to check the licensing status, you will receive the message given below:
‘Error: 0x80070005 Access denied: the requested action requires elevated privileges
Notes: This error message can also appear when a command in execution requires an elevated command prompt and is not linked to the problem described here.
If you see a message that Windows is not authentic (or genuine) without an error code, go to this help topic:
‘Genuine Windows: frequently asked questions
Cause:
This error can occur for either of the following reasons:
- Permissions are missing from the HKU \ S-1-5-20 registry key. The network service account must have full control and read permissions on this registry key.
This situation may be due to applying a Plug and Play Group Policy Object (GPO).
Computer Configuration / Policies / Windows Settings /Security Settings / System Services / Plug and Play (Startup Mode: Automatic)
Because the license service uses Plug and Play to obtain hardware credentials and binds the license to the computer, these settings can cause an activated system to appear to be out of tolerance. The default permissions in the Plug and Play policy do not grant the license service the appropriate rights to access the Plug and Play service. The license service runs under the network service account.
2. Registry Keys may be missing. One or more of these registry keys may be missing:
HKLM\software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Profilelist
S-1-5-18
S-1-5-19
S-1-5-20
Solution:
If the problem is due to a lack of permissions, to resolve it, you can turn off the policy setting (Method A) or change the permissions to grant the necessary permissions to the license service (Method B). If the problem is due to a lack of registry keys, see Method C.
Method 1: Disable the Plug and Play Policy:
1. Decide the source of the policy. To do this, follow these steps:
(a) On the client experiencing the Activation error, run the Resultant Set of Policy wizard by clicking Start, Run, and entering sop. msc as the command.
(b). Visit the following location:
Computer Configuration / Policies / Windows Settings /Security Settings / System Services /
If the Plug and Play service is configured via Group Policy settings, you will see it here with settings other than Undefined. You can also see which group policy applies to these settings.
2. Deactivate the settings of the Group Policy and force them to reapply the Group Policy.
(a). Edit the Group Policy identified in Step 1 and change the setting to “Undefined”. Or follow the section below to add the required permissions for the Network Service account.
(b). Force the Group Policy setting to reapply: gpupdate /force (a restart of the client is sometimes required)
Method 2: Edit the permissions of the Group Policy:
- Open the group policy identified in method A, step 1 above, and open the corresponding group policy setting.
- Click the ‘Edit Security’ button, then click the Advanced button.
- In the Advanced Security Settings for Plug and Play window, click Add, then add the SERVICE account. Then click on OK
- Select the following permissions in the Allow section, then click OK:
- Query template.
- Query status.
- Enumerate dependents.
- Interrogate.
- User-defined control.
- Read permissions.
Note: Previous rights are the minimum required permissions.
5. Run gpupdate /force after you apply the previous permissions to the Group Policy setting.
6. Verify that the appropriate permissions are applied with the following command:
sc show plug-play
The following are the rights applied to the Plug and Play service in SDDL:
D:(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;SY)
(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)
(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;IU)
(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;SU)
S:(AU;FA;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;WD)
(A; CC LC SW LO CR RC; SU is an Access Control Entry (ACE) that allows the following rights to “SU” (SDDL_SERVICE – Service login user)
A: Access Allowed
CC: Create Child
LC: List Children
SW: Self Write
LO: List Object
CR: Control Access
RC: Read Control
SU: Service Logon User
Note: If no Group Policy object is in place, another activity may have changed the default save permissions. To resolve this issue, do the following:
- On the computer out of tolerance, start Registry Editor.
- Right-click the HKEY_USERS \ S-1-5-20 registry key and select Permissions …
- If the NETWORK SERVICE is not present, click on Add …
- When entering the names of the objects to select, enter the network service, then click Check Names and OK.
- Select NETWORK SERVICE and Grant Full Control and Read permissions.
- Restart the computer.
- After rebooting, the system may require activation. Full activation.
Method 3: Add Registry Key:
1. Copy the entry below as it is in a notepad and save the text file in the Profile list.reg
2. Combine profilelist.reg
3. Restart the server and now try to activate it, it should work fine.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
“Flags”=dword:0000000c
“State”=dword:00000000
“RefCount”=dword:00000001
“Sid”=hex:01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00
“ProfileImagePath”=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,\
00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,\
5c,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,66,00,69,00,67,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,\
00,6d,00,70,00,72,00,6f,00,66,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,00,00
00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,\
66,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,5c,00,4c,00,6f,00,63,00,61,00,6c,00,53,00,65,\
00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,00,00
“Flags”=dword:00000000
“State”=dword:00000000 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-20] “ProfileImagePath”=hex(2):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,\
00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,\
66,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,5c,00,4e,00,65,00,74,00,77,00,6f,00,72,00,6b,\
00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,00,00
“Flags”=dword:00000000
“State”=dword:00000000
Method 4: Use These Tools to Activate Windows Again:
Windows Loader v2.2.2 by Dar is a helping tool for the activation of your Microsoft Windows. With this tool, you will be able to activate Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10.
2. KMSPico
KMSPico is the best and most advanced activation tool to activate Windows & Microsoft Office (such as Office 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016; Windows 7/8/8.1/10;) With this tool you will be able to activate your Windows or Office product with just one click.
Microsoft Toolkit is the best and most well-known tool for the activation of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office Products. With this, you can activate Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10. This tool is also popular to activate Microsoft Office 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.