They were met with the “This product key cannot be used to extend the use of this product” error. If you’re in the group of affected users, check the steps below.
Visual Studio can’t be activated with your product key? Here’s what to do
Solution 1 – Change Visual Studio serial number with the Master Product key
Firstly, we suggest signing in with your official account you used to purchase the software. This seemingly fixed it for some. If that doesn’t help, check additional steps. Now, this isn’t exactly legal to do, but it will work for some iterations of Visual Studio. Microsoft provides users with the 90-days-long free trial. In addition, there seems to be a master product key which should allow you to activate the product. Of course, you’ll still need your purchased product key later on, but this will at least allow you to go over the product key error. Follow these steps to try it out: Even though this isn’t legal, as you already have the right key and have issues with it, this is a somewhat reasonable step to follow in order to activate the license.
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Solution 2 – Integrate the product key into the setup.sdp file
Alternatively, instead of going for a product activation through the user interface, you can tweak the setup.sdp file and insert the master product key there. This should allow you to enter your personal product key later on and fix the issue in a seamless manner. Here’s how to insert the master product key in the installation setup file:
Solution 3 – Reinstall Visual Studio
Finally, if the master key workaround doesn’t work for you, we can only advise backing up everything and reinstalling Visual Studio. In addition, make sure to remove all previous versions of Visual Studio from the system, as their presence might cause activation issues. With that said, we can conclude this article. In case you have any alternative solutions or questions, feel free to tell us in the comments section below. Furthermore, contacting Microsoft support is a good idea, as they usually should be able to deal with the product activation issues on their respective software suits. RELATED STORIES YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:
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