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License Error 0xC004C022

0xC004C022 and 0xC004C023: MAK Re-Issuance or Override Request Refused

11 min read Updated October 5, 2026 Windows Activation & Licensing

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Windows 11 Enterprise

Price range: 19,99 € through 5990,00 €

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Microsoft publishes no meaning for either code, so do not treat them as proof that every avenue is closed. For the MAK limit codes that Microsoft does document – 0xC004C020 and 0xC004C021 – the published resolution is to request more activations from the Microsoft Licensing Activation Centers. Make that request before buying anything.

Run these on an affected machine, in an elevated Command Prompt

slmgr /dli
slmgr /dlv
  1. Confirm which key is in question. slmgr /dli shows the last five characters and the channel.
  2. Read the remaining count from the source Microsoft holds: VAMT after Refresh product key data online, or your volume licensing portal.
  3. Gather the evidence before you call: agreement or licence ID, the key, the current machine count, and why the seats were spent. Rebuilds and hardware refreshes are the usual honest answer.
  4. Contact the Microsoft Licensing Activation Centers and ask for more activations. Only Microsoft can change a count.
  5. If the request is declined, order additional seats and change whatever in the deployment process is spending one per rebuild.

Nothing on the machines is at fault. Reinstalling the key, rebuilding the licence store or reimaging a device leaves the central count exactly as it was.

If the count is raised and machines activate, you are done. If not, the next section covers where the seats went and how to stop it recurring.

Why it happens

A Multiple Activation Key carries a finite number of permanent activations, and the count is held by the activation service rather than on any machine you own. When it runs out, the documented codes are 0xC004C020, the key having exceeded its limit, and 0xC004C021, the extension limit having been exceeded as well. Microsoft’s published resolution for both is the same: request more activations from the Microsoft Licensing Activation Centers so that the limit is increased.

0xC004C022 and 0xC004C023 arrive in the same conversations and Microsoft publishes no meaning for either, nor for 0x803FA0D5 and 0x803FA0D6. The reading you will find elsewhere – that one reports no re-issuance allowance and the other no override allowance – is not documented anywhere Microsoft publishes, and it matters because it is usually presented as a final answer. If the codes are undocumented, they cannot tell you the escalation route is closed.

So the honest position is this. What you can establish is the remaining count on the key, which Microsoft holds and which VAMT and your licensing portal both report. What you can do about it is the documented route for an exhausted MAK, which is to ask. What you cannot do is conclude from these two codes alone that asking is pointless.

Nothing about this can be cleared from a machine. The count is not held locally, so reinstalling the key, rebuilding the licence store, running the activation troubleshooter or reimaging the device all leave it exactly as it was. Telephone activation checks the same central count and returns the same answer.

The pool is genuinely spent

You have this one if The remaining count reads zero and the number of machines on the key roughly matches what you were sold.

  1. Establish how many machines legitimately need to stay on this key.
  2. Ask the Microsoft Licensing Activation Centers for that number of additional activations, with the reason.
  3. If the request is declined, order seats for that number rather than for the number currently failing.
  4. Install the key on new machines only in their final configuration.

The deployment process spends a seat per rebuild

You have this one if The consumed count is far higher than the machine count, and the estate is imaged or refreshed regularly.

  1. Remove the key from the reference image and generalise it with sysprep /generalize.
  2. Activate at the end of deployment rather than baking activation into the image.
  3. Move regularly rebuilt machines to KMS or Active Directory-Based Activation, where activation renews instead of being consumed.
  4. Keep MAK for the machines that genuinely live away from your network.

Without this change, additional seats buy time rather than a solution, and the same conversation recurs at the next refresh cycle.

The key has circulated beyond its intended scope

You have this one if Machines nobody recognises appear on the key, or several teams were handed the same one with no record of who deployed what.

  1. Inventory the machines activated against the key using VAMT.
  2. Move anything outside the intended scope onto its own key or onto volume activation.
  3. Request a fresh key for the remaining estate if the current one has been widely circulated.
  4. Store the key in a licensing record rather than in a build document.

The key belongs to an agreement that has ended

You have this one if The key worked historically, and the agreement it came from has lapsed or been replaced.

  1. Confirm with whoever owns the agreement which keys are still current.
  2. Move the affected machines onto a key from the live agreement.
  3. Reactivate and confirm the channel with slmgr /dli.

This is worth checking early. An escalation about a key from a closed agreement has nothing to attach itself to, and finding that out first saves a call.

Full reference

Which routes are still open

Route What it achieves
Retrying activation on the client Nothing. The count is not held locally
Reinstalling the key or rebuilding the licence store Nothing, for the same reason
Telephone activation Checks the same central count and returns the same answer
Microsoft Licensing Activation Centers Can increase the limit or the extension limit. This is the documented route for an exhausted MAK
Moving machines to KMS or Active Directory-Based Activation Stops future rebuilds consuming seats. Does not restore spent ones
Ordering additional seats The answer once Microsoft has declined an increase

The codes that are documented, and what they say

Code What Microsoft publishes
0xC004C020 The activation server reported that the Multiple Activation Key has exceeded its limit. Request more activations
0xC004C021 The activation server reported that the extension limit has been exceeded. Request more activations
0xC004C022 Nothing published
0xC004C023 Nothing published
0x803FA0D5 Nothing published
0x803FA0D6 Nothing published

Four undocumented codes and two documented ones, and the two documented ones both point at the same escalation. That is the whole argument for making the call before reaching for a purchase order.

Preparing the request properly

  1. Establish the exact key, from slmgr /dli on an affected machine rather than from a spreadsheet.
  2. Establish the remaining count from VAMT or the portal, so you are quoting Microsoft’s figure back to them.
  3. Establish how many machines are legitimately on the key today, and how many need to be.
  4. Establish where the rest went. Rebuilds, cloned templates and hardware refreshes are ordinary answers and are better said plainly than left as a gap.
  5. Have the agreement or licence ID to hand before the call rather than during it.

Fixing the process, not just the count

Seats are consumed at activation and are not returned when a machine is wiped, retired or rekeyed. An estate that rebuilds annually therefore spends its pool at roughly the rate it rebuilds, which is why the arithmetic surprises people who counted machines rather than activations.

The structural answer is to stop MAK doing work it is not suited to. Machines that stay on your network and are rebuilt regularly belong on KMS, where activation renews rather than being spent, or on Active Directory-Based Activation if they are domain-joined, which has no host and no threshold at all. Keep MAK for the devices that genuinely cannot reach your network on a regular cadence, and the pool stops draining.

Re-keying a live estate

slmgr /upk removes the installed key and leaves the machine Unlicensed after restart until a valid key is installed. Moving an estate between keys is a change with real downside: stage it in small groups, confirm each group activates before starting the next, and do not begin on a Friday.

What nobody can do for you

  • No reseller can raise the count on a key you already hold. The count lives with the activation service and only Microsoft can adjust it.
  • No tool can add activations locally. Anything claiming to is not talking to the activation service at all.
  • No amount of reinstalling changes a central record.
  • Removing the key from retired machines does not return their seats.

When a licence is the actual fix

Make the call to the Microsoft Licensing Activation Centers first. It is the documented resolution for an exhausted Multiple Activation Key, it costs nothing, and the two codes in this article’s title do not tell you it has been exhausted – Microsoft publishes no meaning for either of them. Where that request is declined, additional licences are the remaining option, and Arco supplies additional Windows 11 Enterprise MAK seats against your agreement. Ask us to look at the machine count alongside the seat count as well: in most estates that reach this point, part of the fleet belongs on KMS or Active Directory-Based Activation, and buying seats without that change means having the same conversation at the next refresh.

Every code this article covers

Code What it points at Source
0xC004C022 Returned by the activation service for a key at its limit. Microsoft publishes no meaning for it, so it is not evidence that an increase cannot be granted not published by the vendor
0xC004C023 Reported alongside the code above. No published meaning not published by the vendor
0x803FA0D5 Seen from the Settings activation client in the same circumstances. No published meaning not published by the vendor
0x803FA0D6 Reported with the code above. No published meaning, and no source pairs it with a specific 0xC004C code not published by the vendor

Confirm the fix worked

  1. VAMT, after Refresh product key data online, or your licensing portal, shows the remaining count reflecting the activations granted or the seats added.
  2. On a previously failing machine, slmgr /ato completes without an error.
  3. slmgr /dli on that machine reports Licence Status: Licensed on a MAK channel.
  4. The key is out of the reference image, and a freshly deployed machine activates at the end of the build.
  5. Re-check the count after a deployment cycle and confirm it falls at the rate you expect.

Questions people ask about this

Can a reseller raise the count on my existing key?

No. The count lives with the activation service and only Microsoft can adjust it. A reseller can sell you additional licences against your agreement, which is a different thing from changing what an existing key is allowed to do.

Do these codes mean Microsoft has already refused me?

They do not say that, because Microsoft publishes no meaning for them at all. The documented resolution for an exhausted Multiple Activation Key is to request more activations from the Licensing Activation Centers, and nothing in these codes tells you that request has been made or declined.

Do retired machines free up seats if I remove the key from them?

No. Seats are consumed at activation and are not returned when a machine is wiped, retired or rekeyed. This is the assumption that most often puts an estate in this position.

Is moving to KMS cheaper than buying seats?

They are not two prices for the same thing. Both rest on licences you hold under the same agreement; what differs is how activation is delivered. KMS suits machines that stay on your network and get rebuilt often. MAK suits machines that do not.

What should I have ready before I call?

The key itself from slmgr /dli, the remaining count as Microsoft holds it, your agreement or licence ID, how many machines are legitimately on the key, and an honest account of where the rest of the activations went.

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