Facing issues while Installing the Nintex K2 Automate Latest version in WindowsServer 2025 Data Center

What is the security setup on your server like? I have been doing an install on WinSrv 2025 with Delina rights management, and it has proven challenging.  

You might verify the version of C++ runtimes you have on your server as the access violation is typically around unmanaged code and memory access, if I remember correctly, the license libraries are some legacy code circa C++. 

Here are the Visual C++ Redistributable versions I have installed for the Nintex K2 Automate 5.9 installation:

• Visual C++ 2012 (x64 and x86) – version 11.0.60610
• Visual C++ 2013 (x64 and x86) – version 12.0.21005
• Visual C++ 2015–2022 (x64 and x86) – version 14.44.35211

Could you let me know if I am missing any older or legacy versions that K2 5.9 requires?

On the security side, the server is a Windows Server 2025 Datacenter edition running as a virtual machine. We had the SentinelOne agent installed, but we disabled it completely before attempting the installation and are still running into the same crash at the license key step. So it doesn't appear to be SentinelOne causing the issue.

Are there any other prerequisites, runtime components, or security configurations specific to Windows Server 2025 that might be causing this? Any guidance would be appreciated.

1. Is this a new installation or a migration to new servers?
2. Does using Run as Administrator changes anything?
3. What does the installertrace.log say?  Usually, you can find it by going to %temp%, and looking for a K2 Setup Log folder, if not at the default location, go up one directory and check for K2 Setup Log folder
4. Make sure that the license key is valid, no leading/trailing spaces

1. It is a new Installation
2. I don’t think run as administrator changes anything.
3. I can find the log file with the below logs when i enter the License Key
   
    03:00:33:>> BasePanel.ActivatePanel: Starting BasePanel.ActivatePanel() - LicensePanel
             03:00:33:>> LicensePanel.ActivatePanel: Done BasePanel.ActivatePanel() - LicensePanel
           03:00:33:>> LicensePanel.ActivatePanel: Initialize panel first activation
           03:00:33:>> Global.GetLicenseKey: Retrieving license key...
             03:00:33:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Loading license assemblies...
               03:00:33:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Load license assemblies from C:\Program Files\K2\Installation\Licensing\x64
               03:00:33:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Finished loading license assemblies.
             03:00:33:>> Global.GetLicenseKey: Querying license key from database. Connectstring: Data Source=FWA-Dev-K2Five;Initial Catalog=K2;Integrated Security=True;Pooling=True
             03:00:33:>> DBQuery.RunQueryRetryable: Logged Special: Query: SELECT [LicenseID], [LicenseKey], [LicenseText], [MachineCode], [LicenseData], [HostName], [HostPort]  FROM [LicenseKeys] WHERE UPPER([MachineCode]) = UPPER('9957491EC006C053')
             03:00:47:>> RetryableExecution.ExecuteRetryable: Failed executing '<RunQuery>b__0'. Exception: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)
             03:00:47:>> RetryableExecution.ExecuteRetryable: shouldRetry based on condition: False
             03:00:47:>> RetryableExecution.ExecuteRetryable: Method <RunQuery>b__0 will not retry. Retry condition not met.
             03:00:47:>> Global.GetLicenseKey: No License Keys found 
             03:00:47:>> Global.GetLicenseKey: Finished querying license key from database.
             03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Loading license assemblies...
               03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Load license assemblies from C:\Program Files\K2\Installation\Licensing\x64
               03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Finished loading license assemblies.
             03:00:47:>> Global.GetLicenseKey: Finished retrieving license key.
           03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Loading license assemblies...
             03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Load license assemblies from C:\Program Files\K2\Installation\Licensing\x64
             03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Finished loading license assemblies.
           03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Loading license assemblies...
             03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Load license assemblies from C:\Program Files\K2\Installation\Licensing\x64
             03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Finished loading license assemblies.
           03:00:47:>> LicensePanel.ValidateLicense: LicenseKey: 
           03:00:47:>> LicensePanel.ValidateLicense: MachineKey: 9957491EC006C053
           03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Loading license assemblies...
             03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Load license assemblies from C:\Program Files\K2\Installation\Licensing\x64
             03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Finished loading license assemblies.
           03:00:47:>> Licensing.ValidLicense: License is not valid: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> System.Exception: Error Validating License ---> System.Exception: License length not equal to key string. LicenseString: ; KeyString:9957491EC006C053
      at SourceCode.Licensing.K2LicenseValidator.ValidateLicenseKey(String LicenseString, String KeyString)
      --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
      at SourceCode.Licensing.K2LicenseValidator.ValidateLicenseKey(String LicenseString, String KeyString)
      --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
      at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor)
      at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object[] parameters, Object[] arguments)
      at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
      at SourceCode.Install.Licensing.Licensing.ValidLicense()
           03:00:47:>> LicensePanel.ActivatePanel: License no longer valid, empty details
           03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Loading license assemblies...
             03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Load license assemblies from C:\Program Files\K2\Installation\Licensing\x64
             03:00:47:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Finished loading license assemblies.
           03:00:47:>> Main.navigateNext: New Panel Index: 4
           03:00:47:>> Main.navigateNext: Done Navigate Panel
         03:02:54:>> Main.navigateNext: Navigate Panel Start
           03:02:54:>> Main.navigateNext: Old Panel Index: 4
           03:02:54:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Loading license assemblies...
             03:02:54:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Load license assemblies from C:\Program Files\K2\Installation\Licensing\x64
             03:02:54:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Finished loading license assemblies.
           03:02:54:>> LicensePanel.ValidateLicense: LicenseKey: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
           03:02:54:>> LicensePanel.ValidateLicense: MachineKey: XXXXXXXXXXXXX
           03:02:54:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Loading license assemblies...
             03:02:54:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Load license assemblies from C:\Program Files\K2\Installation\Licensing\x64
             03:02:54:>> Licensing.GetLicenseAssembly: Finished loading license assemblies.
4. I am entering the same license key provided by one of the sales representative.

Based on the log, there are two avenues we need to look into:

1.  03:00:47:>> RetryableExecution.ExecuteRetryable: Failed executing '<RunQuery>b__0'. Exception: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)

Is the SQL server FWA-Dev-K2Five accessible from the K2 server?  You can test general SQL connectivity with Powershell Test-NetConnection on default SQL port 1433 or using .udl file as per:

Test OLE DB connectivity to SQL Server by using a UDL file - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

2. If SQL is accessible from the K2 server, the license you are using is either invalid or there is a typo:

03:00:47:>> Licensing.ValidLicense: License is not valid: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> System.Exception: Error Validating License ---> System.Exception: License length not equal to key string. LicenseString: ; KeyString:9957491EC006C053
   at SourceCode.Licensing.K2LicenseValidator.ValidateLicenseKey(String LicenseString, String KeyString)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at SourceCode.Licensing.K2LicenseValidator.ValidateLicenseKey(String LicenseString, String KeyString)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object[] parameters, Object[] arguments)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
   at SourceCode.Install.Licensing.Licensing.ValidLicense()
        03:00:47:>> LicensePanel.ActivatePanel: License no longer valid, empty details

Is there 37 characters in the license key?  You may need to reach out to the sales representative again if it has been a while since you have received the key.

Thanks for responding.

According to the Nintex documentation that K2 database configuration will come after the license key validation but not sure why K2 is checking in the database. I am not sure whether i am missing anything here. I validated with Nintex team that license key is a valid license.

Is FWA-Dev-K2Five the k2 server?  If so, then the SQL error can be ignored, as it will usually check if SQL is on the same server, but allows you to change the SQL server configuration in a later wizard.

When you launch the Setup Manager, the 9957491EC006C053 system key/machine code is automatically loaded correct?

Is there 37 characters in the license key that you manually enter or copy and paste?

1. Yes FWA-Dev-K2Five is the K2 Server.
2. yes the system Key(9957491EC006C053) is showing the same
3. It is total of 36 characters.

It seems like the license key is invalid.  If you are installing K2 5.9, the license key should be 37 characters long.

How to: K2 License Keys beyond Dec 31, 2022 | Community

Thanks, I am following up the same with the sales Team. Will keep you posted.