ShowKeyPlus

My Visual Studio Business ISO will accept Retail Keys.

alphanumeric said:

My Visual Studio Business ISO will accept Retail Keys.

Yup the keys work both ways (VL or Retail)... it's the activation (DL) it uses I'm interested in.. VL media should not use it.

The theory is that installations with retail media activated with MAK gets DL, whereas VL media activated with MAK gets key activated.

Ah OK. My Visual Studio Consumer ISO does not have Enterprise as an install option. Workstation and Education, etc are there though. I can upgrade to Enterprise with a change product code, I just can't clean install it.
The Visual Studio Business ISO has Enterprise and Workstation and Education, etc. Just no Core Single Language. If I want to clean install Enterprise I have to use that ISO.
Enterprise LTSC is its own ISO.

EDIT: I have no idea, have completely lost track of, how I originally installed Enterprise on my various PC's? I can't remeber if I ever first time clean installed and activated, or upgraded to and then activated? I may have done both, just can't remeber.

Just did a clean install of 1809 Enterprise. this PC had a DL for Enterprise It shows as not activated,
We can't connect to your organizations activation server, error 0x8007007B.
Ran the activation troubleshooter and it reported "We can't activate your copy of Windows, make sure your connected to the Internet". It has an internet connection.
I then tried slmgr /ato from an admin command prompt. That comes back with "The file name, directory name, or volume license syntax is incorrect

error 0x8007007B
I haven't entered any product code "yet".

Ok, just entered my MAC key and it activated with a Digital License. This PC may not have had Enterprise Installed on it in the past. Going by my list of keys used on each of my PC's Enterprise is not listed for this PC. Showkey says MAK key not found.

FWIW mine only shows the generic key.

That was a clean install on my spare desktop PC, of 1809 with the latest My Visual Studio ISO.
This PC, my main desktop, was upgraded to 1809 and then rolled back to 1803. It shows as activated with a Digital License.
Showkey shows the same as above. In the past it would have shown the generic key. The upgrade and rollback changed things from the looks of it.

I clean installed mine from the download available via MSDN/Visual Studio Premium subscription. It shows an installation key that ends in **72F (different from the generic key -- I just checked). Here's what mine looks like in ShowKeyPlus:

If my records are correct, the key displayed in ShowKeyPlus is the same key I downloaded from MSDN to perform the clean install. This is ever-so-slightly different from the usual Enterprise keys, which always come from a keyserver (MAK).
HTH,
--Ed--

Ed is that the latest showkey? I've seen the BBBBB- in the past.
I'm confused by what you posted? That last statement? I don't get the ever-so-slightly different part?

Also, if you click on the key in showkey, it will X out all but the last 5 so you can post it without revieling your code.