Windows Vista Beta 2: Authentication Failed with the following error: 0x800705B4 - Tony Krijnen

Tony Krijnen

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Windows Vista Beta 2: Authentication Failed with the following error: 0x800705B4

I'll better post this one in English as I think other people in the world may run into this.

If you have installed Windows Vista Beta 2 and for some reason it wasn't unable to activate automatically (or you choose to not do that) you may run into the dialog that says "Activate Windows now"

Your activation period has expired and Windows is no longer working. To use Windows you must activate this copy of Windows.

Activate Windows Online now
Buy a new product key online
Retype your product key
Show me other ways to activate

With every option expect "Buy a new product key online" it takes a while before a message appears that says:

Authentication Failed with the following error:
0x800705B4

This is caused by a known bug (Studio|1613093) in Beta 2 with regards to the User Account Control security settings.

UPDATE Jan 30th: I added a Method 1 which my collegue Lars van Beek pointed out to me . I haven't tested this so if someone succesfully activated using this method please post a comment. Otherwise please use method 2 which I tested and works.

Method 1:

1) Click "Buy a new product key online" and verify if the browser that opens shows you the Microsoft page on product keys. This is merely to verify that you have a working Internet connection. If that page doesn't appear and you are unable to browse to other pages from that Internet Explorer you'd better fix the Internet connection first and try again before taking the steps below.

2) Restart the PC. After the BIOS screen hit F8 a couple of times untill you see the Advanced Boot Options menu. Select Safe Mode and hit Enter.

3) Click on the Windows Key + R on the keyboard. This will open a RUN box. Type MSCONFIG and press Enter.

4) On MSCONFIG, select the TOOLS tab, scroll down and go to "Disable UAP". Hit the Launch button, close the command windows afterwards and click OK.  

5) Restart the PC.

6) Logon to the PC with a user that has the Administrative permissions (If you have more than one account take the first account you created). Just like before when logging in as a user the "Activate Windows now" dialog appears. Note that the little shields are now gone from the options. Make sure you have internet connection and hit Activate now. Assuming your product key is correct you'll soon be smiling at the "Activation was successful" message. Enjoy your Windows Vista Experience again!

Method 2:

1) Click "Buy a new product key online" and verify if the browser that opens shows you the Microsoft page on product keys. This is merely to verify that you have a working Internet connection. If that page doesn't appear and you are unable to browse to other pages from that Internet Explorer you'd better fix the Internet connection first and try again before taking the steps below.

2) Restart the PC. After the BIOS screen hit F8 a couple of times untill you see the Advanced Boot Options menu. Select Safe Mode and hit Enter.

3) Click the Administrator account, give the password you gave during setup (Or try blank) and login.

4) Click Start, Rightclick Computer and select Manage

5) Click the plus sign in front of the "Local users and Groups" to open up that folder and click Users. Note the red circle / white x icon next to Administrator.

6) Rightclick Administrator, click Properties and uncheck the "Account is disabled box"
NOTE: Although it may same convienient to leave the Administrator account active and use this as the default login we strongly urge you not to do this. The User Account control may same a lot of extra clicks to some but serves an important extra layer of defense.

7) If you reboot now then the Administrator account will not show up on the Welcome screen. Therefor we will edit the registry. Warning, editing the registry is dangerous, continue on your own risk bla bla bla.
Click Start | Run | Regedit [Enter]
Go to the key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

If SpecialAccounts doesn't exits create it (New, Key). Then create the UserList key, (New, Key). Select UserList on the left pane and right click in the right pane and select  New | "DWORD (32bit) Value"
Value Name: Administrator
Value Data: 1

8) Click Ok, Start and next to the Power icon button press the little arrowhead and choose restart.

9) After the restart the Welcome Screen appears. If you followed the steps correctly you'll now see the Administrator account. Click on that icon to logon as Administrator. Just like before when logging in as a user the "Activate Windows now" dialog appears. Note that the little shields are now gone from the options. Make sure you have internet connection and hit Activate now. Assuming your product key is correct you'll soon be smiling at the "Activation was successful" message. Enjoy your Windows Vista Experience again!

Posted: Jun 19 2006, 12:49 AM door Tony Krijnen | met 82 comment(s)
Opgeslagen onder: ,

Commentaar:

Windows Vista blog zei:

Wanneer Windows Vista om wat voor reden dan ook niet kon activeren en de periode om te kunnen activeren...
# June 19, 2006 9:26 AM

Andrei Tanas zei:

Thanks a lot, this worked exactly as described.
# June 21, 2006 9:06 PM

Stryfe zei:

Did all the steps you listed and I was able to get the admin icon on start up, also the security shield icon were removed, and I verified I had an internet connection by clicking on buy new key.  But Now I still get a new error code when selecting activate now, also it errors out after I re-enter my product key and select activate now. Not the same error as posted  but similiar.
# June 23, 2006 8:12 PM

John zei:

Thanks alot, great advice man!
# June 23, 2006 11:21 PM

Axsuul zei:

Score! Thanks man, worked great and saved me loads of frustration, how did you figure this out :)
# June 24, 2006 12:10 AM

James zei:

Thanks!
# June 24, 2006 12:10 AM

Tony Krijnen zei:

@Stryfe: What error code do you get in the end then? Please post it here and I'll see if I can look at that.
Tony.
# June 24, 2006 2:18 AM

Peter zei:

Yo ... thanks heaps.
# June 26, 2006 9:55 AM

Ali zei:

Awesome! How did you find this solution? Thx a lot for sharing this solution. :)
# June 26, 2006 5:20 PM

Rob Watkins zei:

Great job.....
# June 27, 2006 5:15 AM

Adam Rudny zei:

Wow! Thanks for the easy fix!!!
# June 28, 2006 12:18 AM

Bob zei:

Awesome. This worked perfectly. I had a little head scratching around the registry key entry (you have to create SpecialAccount key, THEN create a subkey in the same way, called UserList. Then select UserList in the left pane and assign the new DWORD (Administrator, value 1) to that.

Anyway, it worked. Thanks.

Robert Cowart
Author, Using Windows XP Pro (Que)
# June 28, 2006 5:47 AM

Henry zei:

I hate activation. How about trusting your customers and fighting the pirates, instead of fighting the users and assuming they're guilty until proven innocent.

I am this close (insert small distance here) to thinking about possibly switching, one day, to a Mac. You guys should be damn grateful that great games come out for PC, and that I can't get OS X on a Dell, or you'd probably have lost me already.
# June 28, 2006 4:20 PM

Peter zei:

Thanks your fixed worked really well.

Now if only i could get vista to access the internet, the connection is fine, it can browse everything in the workgroup and occasionally browses 50% of a page before it freezes.

Looks like an issue with my netgear gd834 router and sp1, but still to find a fix to get around it :(
# June 28, 2006 6:29 PM

Warren Clark zei:

Nice! Worked perfectly. Thanks heaps.
# June 29, 2006 5:33 AM

Brian zei:

You are brilliant! Thanks for the perfect fix!
# June 29, 2006 6:07 AM

mike zei:

tony,

ik heb je aanwijzingen opgevolgd, maar als ik dan mijn pc weer normaal opstart, dan komt het administrator icoon nergens te staan, alleen mijn eigen account naam "mike"

arg wat is dit irritant

kan jij helpen?
# June 29, 2006 11:19 AM

mike zei:

i followed  your steps,

but when i restart my pc the administrator icon does not show up, only my own account icon does...

help...
# June 29, 2006 11:21 AM

DDB zei:

Worked like a charm! Thx alot mr. Krijnen.
Greetz
# June 29, 2006 1:25 PM

Yared Abate zei:

Cheers, It works 2 thumbs Up!
# June 29, 2006 10:27 PM

Hrunk » Blog Archive » Touch??…ish zei:

PingBack from http://www.hrunk.com/2006/06/28/toucheish/
# June 29, 2006 10:55 PM

ManWithBeard zei:

I followed the advice above, created the specialaccount/userlist key and I get the administrator button in safe mode, but not in normal mode. Did I do something wrong? I can't activate...
# June 30, 2006 12:42 AM

ManWithBeard zei:

Duh - I put the key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. It works now.
# June 30, 2006 7:00 PM

Florida zei:

Method 1 worked perfect. Thanks.
# July 1, 2006 2:14 PM

M zei:

Thank you very much!  Method 1 worked fine.  It's disturbing that such a serious bug has still not been patched as of July 1st.

# July 1, 2006 10:12 PM

Flo zei:

Thanks! I did it your way (second method). It worked fine. I activated it via phone, not via web.
# July 4, 2006 8:15 AM

Tuib zei:

Thanks!
The fastet way i think is, to mix the two solution: start in Safe mode, then in msconfig -> tools, disable UAP. That's worked for me.

By the way, if you start the internet explorer in normal mode, then you can start task manager, then new task -> explorer.exe...
# July 4, 2006 12:51 PM

Jatin zei:

These methods wouldn't work for me as my PCI wireless card is not detected and I can't get to internet before I can log in...... anyone else have ideas on how can I install a driver without logging in.
# July 4, 2006 6:14 PM

ray zei:

i just tested option 1 and it worked just fine
thank you tony and thank you Lars van Beek
# July 4, 2006 8:24 PM

Chris Parkes zei:

I got this error due to a new board fitted in my laptop - Method 2 worked fine (except I couldn't launch the management console from safe mode so had to run MMC and add Users and Groups to complete).  Absolutley fantastic :) Thank You Tony!
# July 5, 2006 1:26 PM

UltraBad zei:

Same issue as Stryfe error cose is 0xC004F013
# July 6, 2006 7:18 AM

Brandon Guest zei:

I disabled UAP and now get the following message:

Code:0x80072EFD

Description: Unable to find a detailed error description

The facility code is : WIN32(0x07)

Facility error : 0x2EFD (12029L)



I have verified that I have a good network connection.  I am running in a virtual machine.  Could this be a proxy server problem where it works for IE but not for the activation server?  I'm using a script for proxy server config.
# July 6, 2006 4:06 PM

Dave Cunningham zei:

I said goddam... goddam.  Method 1 worked perfectly for me.  
# July 6, 2006 9:10 PM

Leandro Carpenter zei:

Method 1 worked perfect. Thanks a lot.
# July 7, 2006 10:50 PM

Leandro Carpenter zei:

Method 1 worked perfect. Thanks a lot.
# July 7, 2006 10:53 PM

Tony Krijnen zei:

@Jatin: It's not a problem if the wireless card doesn't work. Follow the steps untill you are able to activate and then use the "Activate via the Phone" option. Flo did it this way too. Thanks! Tony.
# July 8, 2006 10:59 AM

i am ME zei:

Method 1 worked like a charm, no porblem at all! thanks loads!
# July 9, 2006 2:52 PM

ITT student zei:

do any of you have product keys for vista beta 2
# July 10, 2006 7:41 AM

Bernard Farrell (USA) zei:

Thank you, thank you. This worked exactly as described. (Well except that I couldn't find the Run command in the new Start menu.)
# July 10, 2006 9:36 PM

minor zei:

Worked great! Thank you very much!
(tested method 2)
# July 11, 2006 10:18 AM

Gustav A.Weijnschenk zei:

I have learned the last view days,that the Authentication failed. (7 times) But after cleaning the Parttition,formatted with Format as a FAT 32,partition.During the installation asked Vista the installed partition,and formatted the FAT 32 partitions to NTSF. After that moment was the Authentication a peace of a cake,and it works because I Authenticated for five times and it was no problem to Authentication Vista Beta 2.Be sure that your hard-disc where you want to install Vista is clean and I have no problems to Authentication my Vista,and I can used it till july 2007

Regards and good luck
Arnulf

# July 11, 2006 8:53 PM

Sucker zei:

I tried both methods, to no avail...
First of all I never get to "Microsoft page on product keys", I just get to some general page which doesn't even mention Vista, even when searching.  I can open other tabs, so I did some more research, MS itself on support.microsoft.com suggests to download: KB920976, which is totally possible, except it doesn't save, and doesn't open...  So again a bummer.
Next I tried SafeMode, yes I can login as Administrator, unfortunately I don't get any icons, can't use WinKey+R (or any others like Ctrl+Alt+Del), I get a window saying my Vista is expired and I need to activate it, the only way to do that is to reboot again, going back to square 1.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
# July 12, 2006 4:48 AM

Cindy zei:

Method 1 Worked!  Thanks so much:-)
# July 15, 2006 12:37 AM

Daniel zei:

NOW, I GET:

ERROR 0xC04E003 ¿'WHAT IS IT'?

HELP!
# July 18, 2006 1:26 AM

Christian’s Soapbox » Blog Archive » More Vista Fun zei:

PingBack from http://www.pariahware.com/blog/?p=85
# July 18, 2006 6:19 PM

PaulJ zei:

Great stuff - nice one matey method 1 worked for me!
# July 21, 2006 1:08 PM

David Stewart zei:

Worked perfectly, Thank you
# July 22, 2006 2:56 AM

Leinie zei:

Tony, you are the shiznit. You saved my life. Give me your address so I can come give you a kiss.
# July 23, 2006 4:06 AM

bloodsucker zei:

Hi..

if you can't start msconfig or other programs (like me) ... try this:

1. Start Windows in Safe Mode
2. LogIn as Administrator
3. A Window "Blabla... Windows is not activated... blabla... logoff..blablabla" (don't remember the words exactly, sry)
4. Click "How to start in Normal Mode" (sry, don't know the english translation, it is a small blue text..)
5. Click Online-Help
6. IE7 will start
7. Type "C:/" (or a other drive)
8. A new window with your drive appears
9. Type into the new window "Explorer"
10. Your Taskbar and the "complete" windows starts
11. Now you can go to System properties or msconfig
12. Follow the instructions above (method 1 or 2)

Hope it works for you too.

greets + sry for my englisch
bloodsucker
# July 24, 2006 1:15 AM

bloodsucker zei:

Hi..

if you can't start msconfig or other programs (like me) ... try this:

1. Start Windows in Safe Mode
2. LogIn as Administrator
3. A Window "Blabla... Windows is not activated... blabla... logoff..blablabla" (don't remember the words exactly, sry)
4. Click "How to start in Normal Mode" (sry, don't know the english translation, it is a small blue text..)
5. Click Online-Help
6. IE7 will start
7. Type "C:/" (or a other drive)
8. A new window with your drive appears
9. Type into the new window "Explorer"
10. Your Taskbar and the "complete" windows starts
11. Now you can go to System properties or msconfig
12. Follow the instructions above (method 1 or 2)

Hope it works for you too.

greets + sry for my englisch
bloodsucker
# July 24, 2006 1:16 AM

Gary zei:

Thanx, option 1 worked, but now however if i log back onto my user it will not work properly becuase uap is disabled. If i re-enable it my logon completely stops working and i have to repeat the safe mode steps to disable again. did i do sumthing wrong? thank you
# July 24, 2006 9:49 AM

Kevin zei:

Thank you so much for this excellent solution. Before seeing this I thought that the only way I would ever be able to use my computer again would be to reinstall Vista and lose all my files, but thank god I found this page before I did that!
# July 24, 2006 10:55 PM

bill davis zei:

will this mean that this beta will not expire?
# July 25, 2006 12:23 PM

Will zei:

Method 1 worked like a charm =) Thank you!
# July 25, 2006 12:56 PM

Mo zei:

Wow!  I am trying out Vista Beta on my Powermac G5 running Virtual PC and I got this activation error.  How and why do you guys stick with peecee's?  No matter how cheap they are, they are still worthless.  Too many problems wih windows for me.  Good luck guys!  You're gonna need it!  lol
# July 26, 2006 5:49 AM

Geoffrey Doll zei:

Method 1 worked fine, as long as I remembered to hit the Launch button!
Thanx.
# July 29, 2006 9:13 PM

Florian Jensen’s Weblog » Experiencing Windows Vista zei:

PingBack from http://www.florianjensen.com/2006/08/01/experiencing-windows-vista/
# August 1, 2006 2:27 PM

Larry zei:

Method 1 worked.
# August 2, 2006 2:10 AM

kanga_roo zei:

fantastic was trying everything this is the first major problem i have had with beta 2
# August 5, 2006 1:29 PM

SuperPlay zei:

Hi Tony

Thank you for this excellent post, this saved me a re-install :-)

SuperPlay
# August 5, 2006 10:00 PM

Don Oliva zei:

Tony,
I hope you can help me. I cant seem to activatate my copy of Vista. i only have 3 days left to Activate. I need to know how to bring up the windows with the 9-11 boxes to get the phone code to activate from microsoft?

Please help,
Don Oliva
# August 14, 2006 3:46 AM

Andy zei:

Thanks Tony - I used Method 1 and it worked just fine.  You have easily saved me hours of frustration and potential reloading!
# August 14, 2006 10:47 PM

EricN zei:

Thanks work perfectly. Option 1 OK.
# August 15, 2006 6:20 AM

Gordon zei:

Now I get the following error:

windows explorer has stopped working

Any ideas ??
# August 17, 2006 1:12 PM

Tony Krijnen zei:

@Gordon: If you get that message obvious something else is wrong... But are you able to activate now? Also happens in Safe mode?

Tony.
# August 18, 2006 2:08 AM

Espen Grimstad zei:

Thanks for the fix! Had the pleasure of finding your page as the # 1 search hit when browsing the   "buy a new product key" site. Method 1 works perfectly!! Cheers :)
# August 18, 2006 10:48 AM

angat zei:

i try ur sugesation but it not work because i can use internet via blutooth so i have no driver install for it and my vista is not working the message appearu r windows leicence is expire and wii not start and without windows start how can i connect to the internet please help me
# August 26, 2006 6:29 PM

Luca Colombo zei:

9-06-2006  Perfect
Molte grazie da Monza
Many tanks to Monza-Italy
# September 9, 2006 4:51 PM

Jhollby zei:

Thanks for the info!! It works just OK!!!
# October 3, 2006 5:39 PM

Windows Vista/Longhorn Blog zei:

I just find a method to solve the activitation error in Vista from:http://blogs.microsoft.nl/tonykrijnen/archive/2006/06/19/1795.aspx...
# October 6, 2006 5:21 PM

Richard Gardner zei:

BTW, for some who are still battering their heads against the wall with the 0x80072EFD error, and think (as I did) that they DID correctly enter their proxy address into IE settings...

I "ass-u-med" that even though I was able to connect to the Internet, that that was "the key"... it is not, since I used an Auto-Configuration script proxy setting, instead of entering the Proxy manually.  Goto Tools> IE Options > Connections > LAN Settings > Proxy Server

And NOT your Auto Config script... DOY!  Had me going for awhile...  Duh... how long have I been a gear head!  Sometimes, just re-reading everything over and over, unlocks the "key" so to speak...
# October 7, 2006 10:50 PM

Trianto lie zei:

Thanks a lot,
it's work perfectly
# October 30, 2006 7:20 AM

Mike Worsfold zei:

Many thanks, "Method 1" got Vista running again.
# November 8, 2006 9:52 PM

Ritesh Nohria zei:

Thanks, Method 1, I am able to run Vista again.
# November 16, 2006 1:14 PM

Marc zei:


I have 0x80070005 authentication failed with each of the 4 options (plus admin account disabled).  Starting in safe mode forces a msg saying reboot and activate so no option to run msconfig... but it you choose help and do a search for msconfig you get an option to "click here to run config utility (msconfig) and it runs fine!

On reboot to normal mode, admin account is still disabled but I can log in to my domain as and admin then click activate on line with works a treat now.

cheers,
Marc
# January 2, 2007 9:42 PM

jeremy zei:

Ok im getting upset  here. I did everything and it worked fine but... when i do activate now i get another error 0xC004E003

I dont even have an option for activating via phone... Why does everyone else?!

# December 21, 2007 4:35 AM

Windows Defender Error 0x800705b4 - Windows Vista Help Forum zei:

Pingback from  Windows Defender Error 0x800705b4 - Windows Vista Help Forum

# December 14, 2008 5:15 AM

Nazz zei:

When I click on Computer > Manage there is no option that says Local users and Groups. Method 1 did not work for me.

# January 10, 2009 9:43 AM

Tony Krijnen zei:

Hello Nazz,

Euhm, this article is regarding the beta of Windows Vista Beta 2. If you are trying that one on January the 10th I think you can better look at Windows 7 :-)

# January 11, 2009 8:41 AM

tullius zei:

None of this worked

however, entering the same vista code once again did it! so, try to change your serial with the same serial ...

# March 9, 2009 8:05 PM

Master zei:

Hi tony krijnen,

I have windows 7 enterprise! for my job

I have tried method 1 & 2 but it didn't work:S

Maybe you now a way to activate?

great thanks

# September 23, 2009 3:20 PM

Activation Error 0x800705B4 in Windows 7 - iTechtalk zei:

PingBack vanaf  Activation Error 0x800705B4 in Windows 7 - iTechtalk

# January 6, 2010 1:38 PM
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