I encountered this error while installing SQL 2012. What is puzzling is that I was using a fully licensed copy that I had downloaded from Microsoft using my BizSpark account. I encountered this error for both Developer and Enterprise editions.
SQL Server Setup has encountered the following error:
The SQL Server product key is not valid. To proceed, re-enter the product key values
from the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) or SQL Server packaging.
Error code 0x858C0017.
I was installing SQL 2012 onto a virtual machine (in my
case, using Virtual Box from Oracle Corporation). The setup file for SQL was located on my host
machine, but the VM had access to that folder.
This had me perplexed for days. Finally I solved the problem by copying the whole install image onto the VM. Once
setup accessed the files locally to the VM rather than from the host, I was
able to install without any problem.