Windows Server 2012 r2 Standard Activation Issue - MAK license

I am trying to activate MS Server 2012 R2 Standard and I'm having issues.

I have installed the software from the ISO file I downloaded from the volume licensing site. I have learned that this file installs a KMS client version of the software by default. I have both KMS and MAK keys for this software but since I'm only installing 2 instances of the software, MAK makes the most sense to me. I don't have a KMS host running on my network so I need to use MAK client. However, I cannot get my MAK keys to work when I run a powershell command such as slmgr.vbs -ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx. I always get the same result which is an error message 0xc004e016 - on a computer running ms windows non-core edition, run slui.exe to display the error text.

Basically, its telling me that it doesn't like the license code. So, is there a separate ISO file for MAK client installations or is there a way to convert this KMS client to a MAK client. There is some documentation on this on google but they did not work. Just received the same error message. Can anyone offer some assistance for this issue? Calls to MS support have so far provided no help.

The reason you can't activate it is because you are not connected to the internet. I learn it the hard way. 2012 R2's error is very generic. When you put the license key, it try active the license right way. Because you dont have internet, it cant verify it.

Here is for anyone who try activate over phone on machine that has no internect connection.

Here is the trick I finally figured out.

You can't activate windows by phone because you have not put in the correct product key number. Here are the steps and I was able to activate over the phone. I have not see any one post these steps yet. I spent 4 days with Microsoft trying to get some helps. With other user's input and I was able to put together the complete steps.

1.To Change Product Key Number in a Command Prompt Open an elevated command prompt. In the elevated command prompt, type in the command below and press enter.

NOTE: Substitute XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX in this command below with your actual product key number with dashes instead. slmgr.vbs /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

2.type slui.exe 4 to access the phone activation screen and follow the steps to activate over the phone.

Ok, I went back to MS Volume Licensing and downloaded the ISO file again for MS Server 2012r2 and I noticed that it was different that the one that I had previously installed. I reinstalled this OS on the server and my MAK key worked this time. So all is good again. Thank you for your input.

Darrell