Windows 10 Activation Error Code 0xc004f074 can occur after upgrading and installing your Windows to Windows 10. With this error, you will be unable to complete the activation process and as a result, you will not be able to work properly in your Windows 10 environment.
When attempting to activate the Windows operating system, users sometimes receive the 0xC004f074 error code. This is a Windows Activation error that will generally occur when the Key Management Service (KMS) could not be contacted during the Windows 10 activation procedure. The error code 0xC004f074 can also occur when a user has downloaded an illegal (pirated) version of the Windows operating system.
How to fix error code 0xC004F074 on Windows 10
Uninstall an Install KMS Key usind CMD prompt
This solution is only valid if you already have an activation key or KMS Key. First, you have to uninstall the existing key and then apply the new one. Run the following 4 commands.
Command 1 – Find current information and take a record of current activation details. It’s important that you note down for future use.
slmgr.vbs /dlv
Command 2 – Uninstall current KMS key
slmgr.vbs /upk
Command 3 – Install new KMS key
slmgr.vbs /ipk <NewKMSProductKey>
Command 4 – Activate key online
slmgr.vbs /ato
Activate Windows by Phone
- Open Computer Settings. To open it, press Windows + R on your keyboard, type the command “ms-settings“
- Select Update & security and click on Activation.
- If your PC is not activated, you will receive an option Activate by phone.
- After that, start the Product Activation Wizard.
- Open charms menu and click Settings.
- Then go to Change PC Settings and click Activate Windows.
- Click on one of the options, e.g., Activate, Activate by phone or Contact customer support for help.
- Follow the on-screen directions and activate Windows using your phone.
Check Time And Date Settings
Wrong date and time of your system may reflect the KMS host and client, hence it might trigger error code 0Xc004F074. This solution is very simple, go to the time and date settings to verify that the time and date is updated.
To check these, go to Windows Settings and click on “Time & Language”. Ensure your settings reflect the current Time Zone settings
Disable and Re-enable DNS host
DNS could sometime be the cause of this error due to DNS not updating and disabling and enabling DNS publishing may help. In order to disable DNS publishing Slmgr.vbs script can be used, however, you can do this manually by following below steps.
Open command prompt as administrator and type Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform in the registry
Create a New DWORD Value called “DisableDnsPublishing” and set its value to 1.
This will disable DNS publishing
To re-enable DNS publishing set the value of this Key to 0.
Run DISM and System File Checker
Open Command Prompt as an administrator and execute the following command:
Run command : sfc /scannow
It will run the System File Checker.
Run Command DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Run the Update and Activation Troubleshooter
The Update and ActivationTroubleshooter tries to resolve all issues automatically. In order to do so, you need to go to Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshooter > select Windows Update and run the troubleshooter.
This is the best way which you can follow in order to fix the activation error code.
Contact Microsoft Support
Try calling Microsoft support team and tell them what is the error you are getting and ask them to change your product key. In some cases when you try to use the product key too many times, it will get blocked by the server.
In this case, you need to reset the product key with the help of Microsoft’s support team.
