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KMS activation problems

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Thursday, April 25, 2019 6:06 AM

I part-time manage a branch office IT infrastructure. (More formally, I am developer who has unofficially assumed the IT role.) There are other sites within the company running a common domain. Originally we were not connected  via site-to-site VPN to other sites, so we created our own separate domain. After a number of years things have changed and we are now connected and are moving our IT infrastructure to the common domain. This has been progressing for a few months, generally fairly smoothly.

We also have two Hyper-V hosts, one running Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter. I set it up a number of years back and until now have not had any problems. Recently I noticed one of our VMs that I had moved from the old domain to the new domain a few weeks back had failed to register its IP in the DNS. Checking the event log indicated KMS failures. I naively tried to re-activate it: slmgr /ipk 74YFP-3QFB3-KQT8W-PMXWJ-7M648. The screen turned black and indicated that Windows is not genuine.

I have checked several of the other VMs, but there does not seem to be any significant issues so far. Please note that the VM host is still in the original domain. Googling around I found this, I found this indicating to check the SRV record for _vlmcs._tcp. The domain had changed, so this was pointing to the old domain. (Still available if necessary.) I updated it in the new domain DNS. I have also verified that the VM host server is available over port 1688 via telnet.

I then ran the above slmgr /ipk again. It indicates that the key was successfully applied, but Windows still indicates that the environment is not genuine. I'd appreciate some help in resolving this.

Here is the output for slmgr /dlv on the Hyper-V VM host.

(Please let me know if this contains any keys that I should not post here and I will gladly edit it.)

Windows Script Host

Software licensing service version: 6.1.7601.17514

Name: Windows Server(R), ServerDatacenter edition

Description: Windows Operating System - Windows Server(R), VOLUME_KMS_R2_C channel

Activation ID: <...>

Application ID: <...>

Extended PID: <...>

Installation ID: <...>

Processor Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88342

Machine Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88343

Use License URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88345

Product Key Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88344

Partial Product Key: <...>

License Status: Licensed

Remaining Windows rearm count: 3

Trusted time: 4/25/2019 2:55:52 PM

Key Management Service is enabled on this machine

    Current count: 1

    Listening on Port: 1688

    DNS publishing enabled

    KMS priority: Normal

Key Management Service cumulative requests received from clients

    Total requests received: 2

    Failed requests received: 0

    Requests with License Status Unlicensed: 0

    Requests with License Status Licensed: 0

    Requests with License Status Initial grace period: 0

    Requests with License Status License expired or Hardware out of tolerance: 0

    Requests with License Status Non-genuine grace period: 0

    Requests with License Status Notification: 2

OK   

And here is the same output for the problematic VM client.

====================

Windows Script Host

Software licensing service version: 6.1.7601.17514

Name: Windows Server(R), ServerDatacenter edition

Description: Windows Operating System - Windows Server(R), VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel

Activation ID: <...>

Application ID: <...>

Extended PID: <...>

Installation ID: <...>

Partial Product Key: <...>

License Status: Notification

Notification Reason: 0xC004F056.

Remaining Windows rearm count: 3

Trusted time: 2019/04/25 14:58:42

Please use slmgr.vbs /ato to activate and update KMS client information in order to update values.

OK   

All replies (6)

Tuesday, April 30, 2019 7:48 AM ✅Answered

Hi Michael,

Thank you for the response. I was able to resolve the issue. I did not notice it until I ran slmgr /ato, but for some reason the minimum number of clients was insufficient. The following error was returned:

Error: 0xC004F038 The software Licensing Service reported that the computer could not be activated. The count reported by your Key Management Service (KMS) is insufficient. Please contact your system administrator

While this is odd... I ran the following commands on other VMs that I had moved to the new domain:

cscript.exe slmgr.vbs /ipk 74YFP-3QFB3-KQT8W-PMXWJ-7M648
cscript.exe slmgr.vbs /ato

After a few machines, they all started activating. Thank you.

Thursday, April 25, 2019 12:42 PM

Maybe the folks at Microsoft's activation center can assist you

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/existing-customer/activation-centers.aspx

tim

Friday, April 26, 2019 4:45 AM | 1 vote

Hi,

Thanks for your question.

Would you mind I’d provide some suggestion for your current issue as below?

Best practice that we’d join the KMS host into the new domain, or register KMS SRV RR to the DNS server of new domain successfully.

Please make sure verify your new KMS host address on the cmd.exe command-line in Windows, using nslookup:

On one of your clients, execute the following nslookup lookup to verify your newly created KMS host address in DNS: 

nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp.[active directory domain]

Then verify activated successfully by running the following command from an administrative command prompt:

Cscript C:\Windows\System32\slmgr.vbs /dlv All

Detailed reference link:

https://www.saotn.org/kms-migration-2008-r2-windows-server-2012-r2/

Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Besides, as your link mentioned, please check that,

  • clients can reach the KMS
  • make sure the firewall or other party software will not block the traffic regarding KMS activation
  • the VM ‘s network setting was configured correctly
  • virtual switch the VM connected was configured correctly, and the network was correct not to block the traffic between the VM and KMS host.

Then Clear any previous (mis)configuration: slmgr.vbs /ckms, Attempt activation: slmgr.vbs /ckms

Another MS docs talked about configuring DNS for KMS server, hope it can help.

/en-us/previous-versions/tn-archive/ff793405(v=technet.10)

Hope above information can help you. I look forward to hearing your good news. If you have any question or concern, please feel free to let me know. 

Best regards,

Michael

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Sunday, April 28, 2019 10:23 AM

Hi,

Just checking in to see if the information provided was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.

Best Regards,

Michael

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Tuesday, April 30, 2019 5:44 AM

Hi,

How are things going on? Was your issue resolved?

Please feel free to let me know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Michael

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Tuesday, April 30, 2019 8:58 AM

Hi,

I'm very glad your issue was resolved successfully!

Thanks for your sharing and support.

Best regards,

Michael

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