"Windows is not genuine" error in Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Symptoms

When you log on to a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, you receive the following Windows Activation message:



Additionally, the desktop background is black, and you receive the following error message in the lower-right corner of the screen:



Advanced error message information

When you view the System properties in Control Panel, the following information is displayed:

Note To view the System properties, click
Start, click Control Panel, click
System and Security, and then click System.

You must activate today. Activate Windows now.

If you use the slmgr.vbs /dlv script to view the licensing status, you receive the following message:

Error: 0x80070005 Access denied: the requested action requires elevated privileges

Notes
This error message may also occur when a command that is being executed requires an elevated command prompt and is unrelated to the issue discussed here.
If you see a message that Windows might not be genuine, and there is no error code, go to

Genuine Windows: frequently asked questions.

Resolution

To resolve this problem, use the following methods, depending on your scenario.

Scenario 1: Lack of permissions

The network service account has to have full control and read permissions in the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Profilelist\S-1-5-20
The permissions may have been removed when a Plug and Play Group Policy Object (GPO) was applied.

To resolve the problem in this scenario, use method A or method B.

Method A: Edit the permissions of the Group Policy

Determine the source of the policy. To do this, follow these steps:
On the computer that is experiencing the Activation error message, run the Resultant Set of Policy wizard. To do this, click
Start, type rsop.msc in the
Search box, and then press Enter.
In the navigation pane, expand the following containers: See image


Computer Configuration
Windows Settings
Security Settings

In the navigation pane, click System Services.
If the Plug and Play service is configured through a Group Policy setting, you see the GPO listed here with settings other than Not Defined. Additionally, you can see which GPO is applying this setting.

Open the GPO that is identified in step 1, and then open the corresponding Group Policy setting.
Click Edit Security, and then click
Advanced.
In the Advanced Security Settings for Plug and Play window, click
Add, and then add the SERVICE account.
Click OK.
elect the following permissions in the Allow section, and then click
OK:
Query template
Query status
Enumerate dependents
Interrogate
User-defined control
Read permissions
Note These are the minimum required permissions.

Run gpupdate /force after you apply the previous permissions to the Group Policy setting. To do this, click
Start, type gpupdate /force in the
Search box, and then press Enter.
Make sure that the appropriate permissions are applied. To do this, click
Start, type sc sdshow plugplay in the
Search box, and then click OK.

The following are the permissions that are applied to the Plug and Play service in the security descriptor definition language (SDDL):

D:(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;SY)
(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)
(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;IU)
(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;SU)
S:(AU;FA;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;WD)

Note "(A;;CC LC SW LO CR RC ;;;SU" is an Access Control Entry (ACE) that allows the following rights to "SU" (SDDL_SERVICE – Service logon 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

If there are no GPOs in place, the default registry permissions have been changed. To work around this problem, follow these steps:
Start Registry Editor on the computer that is receiving the error message. To do this, click
Start, type regedit in the
Search box, and then press Enter.
Right-click the registry key HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20, and then click
Permissions.

See image



If the NETWORK SERVICE is not present, click
Add.

See image



In Enter the object names to select area, type
network service, click
Check Names, and then click
OK.

See image



Click NETWORK SERVICE, and then select the
Full Control and
Read permissions.

See image



Click OK.
Restart the computer.
After you restart the computer, you may have to activate the copy of Windows. Complete the activation.

Method B: Disable the Plug and Play GPO

Note This method is intended for advanced computer users and cannot be performed on computers that are running Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Home Basic, or Windows 7 Starter. For help with advanced troubleshooting, ask your
system administrator or
Contact Microsoft.

To disable the Plug and Play GPO, follow these steps:
Determine the source of the policy. To do this, follow these steps:
On the computer that is experiencing the Activation error message, run the Resultant Set of Policy wizard. To do this, click
Start, type rsop.msc in the
Search box, and then press Enter.
In the navigation pane, expand the following containers:
Computer Configuration
Windows Settings
Security Settings

In the navigation pane, click System Services.
If the Plug and Play service is configured through a Group Policy setting, you see the GPO listed here with settings other than Not Defined. Additionally, you can see which Group Policy is applying this setting.

Disable the Group Policy settings and force the Group Policy to be reapplied. To do this, follow these steps:
Edit the Group Policy that is identified in Step 1 and change the setting to “Not Defined.” Or, follow the steps in Method A to add the required permissions for the Network Service account.
Reapply the Group Policy setting. To do this, click Start, type
gpupdate /force in the Search box, and then press Enter.

Note You may have to restart the computer.

Scenario 2: Missing registry entries

One or more of the following registry subkeys is missing:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Profilelist\S-1-5-18
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Profilelist\S-1-5-19
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Profilelist\S-1-5-20

To have us fix this problem in this scenario for you, go to the "Fix
it for me" section. If you prefer to fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let
me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the
Fix it button or link. Then click
Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in the
Fix it wizard.

Download

Notes
This wizard may be in English only. However, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

If you are not on the computer that has the problem, save the Fix it solution to a flash drive or a CD and then run it on the computer that has the problem.

Then, go to the "Did this fix the problem?"
section.

Let me fix it myself

To resolve this problem in this scenario, follow these steps:
Copy the text below into a text editor such as Notepad, and then save the text file as Profilelist.reg.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-18]
"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
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-19]
"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,00,4c,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

Merge profilelist.reg. To do this, right-click the file that you saved in step 1, and then click
Merge.
Restart the computer.
Activate Windows.

Did this fix the problem?

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this section. If the problem is not fixed, you can

contact support.
We would appreciate your feedback. To provide feedback or to report any issues with this solution, please leave a comment on the "Fix it for me" blog or send
us an email.

Advanced information

Because the Licensing service uses Plug and Play to obtain hardware ID information and binds the license to the computer, this setting can result in an activated system appearing to be out of tolerance. The default permissions of the Plug and Play policy do
not grant the Licensing service the appropriate rights to access the Plug and Play service. The Licensing service runs under the Network Service account.

References

For more information about error 0x80070005, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
2584824
Windows 7 displays "Windows is not Genuine" with an error code of 0x80070005

Properties
Article ID: 2704233 - Last Review: Nov 2, 2012 - Revision: 1 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2704233/-windows-is-not-genuine-error-in-windows-7-or-windows-server-2008-r2