Licensing issue on Windows runner

**Bug description**

`UnityConnectLoginRequest: Failed to login` keeps show up, while the windows-mono and linux-il2cpp with same credentials work well, I am confused.
```
UNITY_VERSION: 6000.3.11f1
UNITY_EXECUTABLE: C:\UnityEditor\6000.3.11f1\Editor\Unity.exe
Unity executable found
Build command: BuildCommand.PerformBuild
Build target: StandaloneWindows64
$ try { # collapsed multi-line command
CreateDirectory 'C:/Users/ContainerAdministrator/AppData/Local/Unity/Caches' failed: The system cannot find the path specified.
(current dir: )
CreateDirectory 'C:/Users/ContainerAdministrator/AppData/Local/Unity/Caches' failed: The system cannot find the path specified.
(current dir: )
CreateDirectory 'C:/Users/ContainerAdministrator/AppData/Local/Unity/Caches' failed: The system cannot find the path specified.
(current dir: )
CreateDirectory 'C:/Users/ContainerAdministrator/AppData/Local/Unity/Caches' failed: The system cannot find the path specified.
(current dir: )
UnityConnectLoginRequest: Failed to login - please check your username or password
No sufficient permissions while processing request "https://core.cloud.unity3d.com/api/login", HTTP error code 401
.UnityConnectLoginRequest: Failed to login - please check your username or password
No sufficient permissions while processing request "https://core.cloud.unity3d.com/api/login", HTTP error code 401
.[UnityConnect::TryLogin] Authentication Retry (1) ...
UnityConnectLoginRequest: Failed to login - please check your username or password
No sufficient permissions while processing request "https://core.cloud.unity3d.com/api/login", HTTP error code 401
.[UnityConnect::TryLogin] Authentication Retry (2) ...
[Licensing::Module] Trying to connect to existing licensing client channel...
[Licensing::IpcConnector] Channel LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator doesn't exist
[Licensing::Module] Successfully launched the LicensingClient (PId: 10360)
Starting IPC server.
Waiting for clients to connect on \\.\pipe\Unity-LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator, press Ctrl-C to exit.
[Licensing::IpcConnector] Successfully connected to: "LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator" at "2026-03-28T21:40:34.1275388Z"
Unable to retrieve boot drive serial number
[Licensing::Client] Handshaking with LicensingClient:
Version: 1.18.0+23225a6
Session Id: 323c92ce510b4b0bb2d4ecf883fc5c80
Correlation Id: dccfd9c80cc58a437a17eeb3d2b2c25f
External correlation Id: 2991018346860175769
Machine Id: QKv5rBIanmmMOhr77FIg43LmeCA=
[Licensing::Module] Successfully connected to LicensingClient on channel: "LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator" (connect: 6.56s, validation: 0.71s, handshake: 5.31s)
[Licensing::IpcConnector] Successfully connected to: "LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator-notifications" at "2026-03-28T21:40:40.1598206Z"
[Licensing::Module] Connected to LicensingClient (PId: 10360, launch time: 0.18, total connection time: 12.59s)
[Licensing::Module] Error: Access token is unavailable; failed to update
[Licensing::Module] Error: Failed to activate entitlement license
[Licensing::Module] Error: Access token is unavailable; failed to update
[Licensing::Module] Error: Failed to activate ULF license
Exiting without the bug reporter. Application will terminate with return code 1Shut down.
UnityConnectLoginRequest: Failed to login - please check your username or password
No sufficient permissions while processing request "https://core.cloud.unity3d.com/api/login", HTTP error code 401
.UnityConnectLoginRequest: Failed to login - please check your username or password
No sufficient permissions while processing request "https://core.cloud.unity3d.com/api/login", HTTP error code 401
.[UnityConnect::TryLogin] Authentication Retry (1) ...
UnityConnectLoginRequest: Failed to login - please check your username or password
No sufficient permissions while processing request "https://core.cloud.unity3d.com/api/login", HTTP error code 401
.[UnityConnect::TryLogin] Authentication Retry (2) ...
[Licensing::Module] Trying to connect to existing licensing client channel...
[Licensing::IpcConnector] Channel LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator doesn't exist
[Licensing::Module] Successfully launched the LicensingClient (PId: 6720)
Starting IPC server.
Waiting for clients to connect on \\.\pipe\Unity-LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator, press Ctrl-C to exit.
Unable to retrieve boot drive serial number
[Licensing::IpcConnector] Successfully connected to: "LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator" at "2026-03-28T21:40:44.5159172Z"
[Licensing::Client] Handshaking with LicensingClient:
Version: 1.18.0+23225a6
Session Id: ad4f09886d7749eb87e18832aab75fa3
Correlation Id: 32cf16af1cf9519c1e46d1af84369dad
External correlation Id: 1464542252672746675
Machine Id: QKv5rBIanmmMOhr77FIg43LmeCA=
[Licensing::Module] Successfully connected to LicensingClient on channel: "LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator" (connect: 0.85s, validation: 0.20s, handshake: 1.64s)
[Licensing::IpcConnector] Successfully connected to: "LicenseClient-ContainerAdministrator-notifications" at "2026-03-28T21:40:46.3549356Z"
[Licensing::Module] Connected to LicensingClient (PId: 6720, launch time: 0.01, total connection time: 2.69s)
[Licensing::Module] Error: Access token is unavailable; failed to update
[Licensing::Module] Error: Failed to return entitlement license
[Licensing::Client] Successfully queried for the EntitlementGroupsDetails
[Licensing::Module] Error: Serial number unavailable for ULF return; skipping operation
Exiting without the bug reporter. Application will terminate with return code 1Shut down.
Cleaning up project directory and file based variables
00:13
ERROR: Job failed: exit code 1
```

**How to reproduce**

start a windows il2cpp build then windows runner lose power in accident.
and i restart failed job or trigger new pipeline will only show me the failed `ERROR: Job failed: exit code 1` logs

-

**Expected behavior**

successfully build windows il2cpp exe

**Additional details**

similar: https://github.com/game-ci/unity-builder/issues/484, but new account with new serial not work for it

**What I have done**

2. I tried 6000.3.8f1 and 2022.36f3 build via same runner, all failed due to license problem
3. login windows host, removed all volumes and images by docker system prune -a and docker volume prune -a, re-pulled all unityci images
4. I registered a new free unity account and tried to activate with this account

**Image I tried**

`unityci/editor:windows-6000.3.8f1-windows-il2cpp-3`
`unityci/editor:windows-2022.3.62f3-windows-il2cpp-3`
`unityci/editor:windows-6000.3.11f1-windows-il2cpp-3`

my build script in `.gitlab-ci.yml`:

```powershell
.build-windows: &build-windows
stage: build
image: $IMAGE:windows-$UNITY_VERSION-windows-il2cpp-$IMAGE_VERSION
tags:
- build_windows
- mount
cache:
# - key: "$UNITY_VERSION-$BUILD_TARGET-Library"
- key: "unity-packages-$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG"
paths:
# - $CI_PROJECT_DIR/Library/
- Packages/
- ProjectSettings/
policy: push
- key: "unity3d"
paths:
- $UPM_CACHE_ROOT
policy: push
artifacts:
expire_in: "45 days"
paths:
- $UNITY_DIR/Builds/
needs:
- job: get-unity-version
artifacts: true
script:
- |
Write-Host "UNITY_VERSION: $env:UNITY_VERSION"
Write-Host "UNITY_EXECUTABLE: $env:UNITY_EXECUTABLE"
if (Test-Path $env:UNITY_EXECUTABLE) {
Write-Host "Unity executable found"
} else {
Write-Host "Unity executable NOT found"
}
Write-Host "Build command: $env:BUILD_COMMAND"
Write-Host "Build target: $env:BUILD_TARGET"
- |
try {
& $env:UNITY_EXECUTABLE `
-projectPath $env:CI_PROJECT_DIR `
-quit `
-batchmode `
-nographics `
-buildTarget $env:BUILD_TARGET `
-customBuildTarget $env:BUILD_TARGET `
-customBuildPath "Builds/" `
-customBuildName $env:BUILD_NAME `
-logFile - `
-executeMethod $env:BUILD_COMMAND `
-logFile - `
-username $env:UNITY_USERNAME `
-password $env:UNITY_PASSWORD `
-serial $env:UNITY_SERIAL `
| Out-Host
}
finally {
& $env:UNITY_EXECUTABLE `
-quit `
-batchmode `
-nographics `
-logFile - `
-username $env:UNITY_USERNAME `
-password $env:UNITY_PASSWORD `
-returnlicense `
| Out-Host
}
rules:
- if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG =~ /^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/

build-StandaloneWindows64-il2cpp:
<<: *build-windows
variables:
BUILD_TARGET: StandaloneWindows64
SCRIPTING_BACKEND: IL2CPP
UNITY_EXECUTABLE: C:\UnityEditor\$UNITY_VERSION\Editor\Unity.exe
BUILD_COMMAND: BuildCommand.PerformBuild
UPM_CACHE_ROOT: $CI_PROJECT_DIR/.upm

```

none of them work for me. Do i have anything dirty remain on disk? help pls