Good morning, I'm looking for some advice/assistance with licensing/KMS on my Windows 2008 R2 servers. Due to PCI/DSS requirements all our servers (Windows 2008 R2) are configured not to be allowed out to the internet, so for KMS I did the following; On the host; 1. slmgr /ipk <product key> 2. slmgr /ato After those two steps I got an activation error as it wanted to go to the internet for activation, so to get the server ativated I did "slui 4" and did the manual 'over the phone' automated activation. This looks good...the server I wanted to be the KMS host registered itself in dns the appropriate srv record was created and could be seen in nslookup. However, I cannot get the KMS clients to talk back to the host. I've ran slmgr /ckms on the KMS clients but still no joy...is there anything I have missed/done wrong/or need to do to get KMS working? All advice/comments appreciated. Rgds Fatty

Hi, Please run slmgr /dlv on your KMS server and paste the result. And please use the following KMS keys to activate your KMS clients: Operating system edition Product key Windows 7 Windows 7 Professional FJ82H-XT6CR-J8D7P-XQJJ2-GPDD4 Windows 7 Professional N MRPKT-YTG23-K7D7T-X2JMM-QY7MG Windows 7 Enterprise 33PXH-7Y6KF-2VJC9-XBBR8-HVTHH Windows 7 Enterprise N YDRBP-3D83W-TY26F-D46B2-XCKRJ Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC Edition FKJQ8-TMCVP-FRMR7-4WR42-3JCD7 Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter 74YFP-3QFB3-KQT8W-PMXWJ-7M648 Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise 489J6-VHDMP-X63PK-3K798-CPX3Y Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems GT63C-RJFQ3-4GMB6-BRFB9-CB83V Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard YC6KT-GKW9T-YTKYR-T4X34-R7VHC Windows Web Server 2008 R2 6TPJF-RBVHG-WBW2R-86QPH-6RTM4 Windows Vista Windows Vista Business YFKBB-PQJJV-G996G-VWGXY-2V3X8 Windows Vista Business N HMBQG-8H2RH-C77VX-27R82-VMQBT Windows Vista Enterprise VKK3X-68KWM-X2YGT-QR4M6-4BWMV Windows Vista Enterprise N VTC42-BM838-43QHV-84HX6-XJXKV Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 Datacenter 7M67G-PC374-GR742-YH8V4-TCBY3 Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V 22XQ2-VRXRG-P8D42-K34TD-G3QQC Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems 4DWFP-JF3DJ-B7DTH-78FJB-PDRHK Windows Server 2008 Enterprise YQGMW-MPWTJ-34KDK-48M3W-X4Q6V Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V 39BXF-X8Q23-P2WWT-38T2F-G3FPG Windows Server 2008 Standard TM24T-X9RMF-VWXK6-X8JC9-BFGM2 Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V W7VD6-7JFBR-RX26B-YKQ3Y-6FFFJ Windows Web Server 2008 WYR28-R7TFJ-3X2YQ-YCY4H-M249D What’s the meaning of “I cannot get the KMS clients to talk back to the host”? Is the network connection OK? What’s the exact wording of the error message you received when trying to activate the KMS clients? Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Let me check if I understand this correct... On the KMS Server I run the "slmgr /ipk <our product key>" and then do the "slui 4" for over the phone manual registration....then on the KMS client machines I do the "slmgr /ipk <product key from above>" and "slmgr /ato". Is that correct..? Rgds

Hello, First report back with the output from slmgr /dlv. That will tell us whether the machines are setup as KMS clients of not. The keys referenced above can be used to make the machines KMS clients, but we should check first whether they are clients already or not. It will also tell us what the status of those client are. If they are KMS clients, then we would like to know what the error is when you run slmgr /ato ( why it's failing)Thanks, Darrell Gorter This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. VAMT - Volume Activation Management Tool - Download link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ec7156d2-2864-49ee-bfcb-777b898ad582&displaylang=en

Hi, Can you let us know the result when running slmgr /dlv? Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Will do guys...I'm tied up all day with delegation models etc. but may get a chance to post later today or first thing tomorrow... Rgds FMcFF

Output from slmgr /dlv; ============================================= Software licensing service version 6.1.7600.16385 Name: Windows Server(R), ServerEnterprise edition Description: Windows Operating System - Windows Server(R), VOLUME_LMSCLIENT channel Activation ID: 620e2b3d-09e7-42fd-802a-17a13652fe7a Application ID: 55c92734-d682-4d71-983e-d6ec3f16059f Extended PID: 00486-00168-001-000107-03-2057-7600.0000-0422011 Installation ID: 0127048446413839150312268057544603357996317855451355 Partial Product Key@ CPX3Y License Status: Initial grace period Time remaining: 38940 minute(s) (27 day(s)) Remaining Windows rearm count: 1 Trusted time: 14/2/2011 14:18:39 Please use slmgr.vbs /ato to activare and update KMS client information in order to update values. ======================================================== Ouput from slmgr /ato Activating Windows Server(R), ServerEnterprise edition (620e2b3d-09e7-42fd-802a-17a13652fe7a) ... Error: 0xC004F038 The software Licensing Server reported the computer could not be activated. The count reported by your Key Management Service (KMS) is insufficient. Please contact your system administrator

Also...it's worth noting the the KMS server is on the parent domain and 4 of the 5 KMS clients are in child domains.

Oh and another thing...we're using a PHYSICAL domain controller as the KMS server and the remaining servers in the forest are all VIRTUAL (vmware) servers.

Hello, So the error message indicates at least that client is communicating with the KMS host. When it states the count is not sufficient, it is seeing the KMS host. Run slmgr /dlv on the host to get the count of the machines that have contacted the host. Also you can look at the KMS event log on the KMS host, to see which machines are communicating with the KMS host machine. As long as the KMS host is running Windows Server 2008 with SP2 or Windows Server 2008 R2, virtual machines will be counted. Thanks, Darrell Gorter This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. VAMT - Volume Activation Management Tool - Download link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ec7156d2-2864-49ee-bfcb-777b898ad582&displaylang=en

Darrell, Thanks for the feedback, I'll have a look through the logs etc. to see where it leads me. My gut feeling is that the issues I am experiencing are due to the fact that the host is a physical server and the clients are all virtual (I came across a few threads/posts etc. yesterday that mentioned the Microsoft 'Activation Threshold' requiring FIVE PHYSICAL KMS CLIENTS). Currently we only have ONE physical and FIVE virtuals, and although we intend to roll-out many more servers as KMS clients these will ALL be virtual servers. If my understanding of the KMS/Activation Threshold scenario is correct then KMS won't work in our environment....(someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Any additional thoughts/comments/observations are most welcome. Rgds FMcFF

Hello, As long as the KMS host is running Windows Server 2008 SP2 or Windows Server 2008 R2, we do count virtual machines. We took a change in SP2 to allow the KMS host to start counting virtual machines and of Windows Server 2008 R2 will also count virtual machines. The version of the KMS clients does not matter, only the host has to be at SP2 or better. The information about not counting virtual is dated.Thanks, Darrell Gorter This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. VAMT - Volume Activation Management Tool - Download link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ec7156d2-2864-49ee-bfcb-777b898ad582&displaylang=en

I'm getting somewhat frustrated with this whole KMS issue... As I've said before, the KMS host server is a PHYSICAL Windows 2008 R2 Standard Server, the KMS clients are VIRTUAL Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise. I activate the license (a valide Windows 2008 R2 Std/Ent KMS license) using the following method as we don't have internet access; On host; 1. Run CMD as Adminstrator 2. slmgr.vbs /ipk <KMS Key> 3. slmgr.vbs /ato {here I get asked to validate using 'slui 4'} 4. Run 'slui 4' and activate manually This works fine, Server is licensed OK, VLMCS record(s) created in DNS. When I run slmgr /dlv I get as mentioned previously above. On client I run the following; 1. Run CMD as Adminstrator 2. slmgr.vbs /ipk <KMS Key YOU provided up above in previous response> 3. slmgr.vbs /ato After the /ato I get the following message on the client; 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. On the KMS host the Event Log shows Event ID: 12290 pertaining to the KMS client and the /dlv switch on the host tells me that KMS is enabled, it's received 3 requests, and 3 are in the initial grace period. So this to me looks a little like we're experiencing the KMS Activation Threshold issue, however I thought this was resolved with R2..? Can you verify if this IS indeed what I'm experiencing and, if it is then what the suggested fix is or if it's not then some advice as to what else can cause the issue. I've spent the best part of today trawling the web for possible solutions and as yet have not found anything that will work. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions...? I'm starting to get somewhat frustrated that it's taking me days to sort out a piece of work that should only take around an hour at max.

Hello, Only three machines have contacted the KMS host (3 requests and all 3 are in the grace perdiod) So look at the KMS event log on the KMS host to see which machines have contacted the KMS host machine Also you need to make sure all the KMS client have unique CMID's See this blog KMS Host Client Count not Increasing Due to Duplicate CMID’s Thanks, Darrell Gorter This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. VAMT - Volume Activation Management Tool - Download link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ec7156d2-2864-49ee-bfcb-777b898ad582&displaylang=en

OK...I see where you've gone with this one....let me clarifiy our environment; ROOT Domain: Contains 1 KMS Host and 1 KMS Client CHILD Domain 1: Contains 2 KMS Clients CHILD Domain 2: Contains 2 KMS Clients Now as we know, the default action of KMS licensing is to only look in it's own domain and as yet I've not configure it work with the two CHILD domains. When I look in the KMS event logs the only client that is asking for licensing is the one in same domain as the KMS host. Surely this means that at the moment the KMS host cannot be worried or concerned with duplicate CMID's..!?!

OK...I see where you've gone with this one....let me clarifiy our environment; ROOT Domain: Contains 1 KMS Host and 1 KMS Client CHILD Domain 1: Contains 2 KMS Clients CHILD Domain 2: Contains 2 KMS Clients Now as we know, the default action of KMS licensing is to only look in it's own domain and as yet I've not configured it work with the two CHILD domains. When I look in the KMS event logs the only client that is asking for licensing is the one in same domain as the KMS host. Surely this means that at the moment the KMS host cannot be worried or concerned with duplicate CMID's..!?!

Hi, By default, the KMS host is registered only in the DNS domain to which the host belongs. If the network environment has only one DNS domain, no further action is required. If there is more than one DNS domain name, a list of DNS domains can be created for a KMS host to use when publishing its SRV RR. Setting this registry value suspends the KMS host’s default behavior of publishing only in the domain specified as the Primary DNS Suffix. To automatically publish KMS in multiple DNS domains, add each DNS domain suffix to whichever KMS should publish to the multi-string registry value DnsDomainPublishList in registry subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform. After changing the value , restart the Software Licensing Service to create the SRV RRs. To verify that this procedure was successful, check the Application event log on KMS host. Event ID 12294 indicates that the KMS host successfully created the SRV RRs. Event ID 12293 indicates that the attempt to create the SRV RRs was unsuccessful. For more information, please refer to the following article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793405.aspx Tim Quan

Hi, How are things going? I have not heard back from you in a few days and wanted to check on the status of the issue. Please let me know how things turned out. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Sorry, been busy running the test scripts against the AD so left the environment in the /rearm state. I will be picking this one up today as I now have a window of opportunity so I'll update the thread later... Thanks FMcFF

OK....been busy going through our KMS config today and it does indeed appear that the main issue we were seeing was the KMS Activation Threshold issues. Once I went through and added the registry changes and configured 5 KMS clients they started to acivate. Strange behaviour though, I thought the 'Activation Threshold' for virtual servers had been resolved in R2. The other issue I am getting is the old "0xC004F074" error...this doesn't happen on all clients, only some...I've checked the srv records are correct on the KMS clinets "nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp" and these show that the records are present and correct in DNS. I know it's NOT a port issue or timesync. as a couple of the KMS clients that aren't working are working as domain controllers and to ensure it's not a firewall/port issue I have used ports inside the dynamic range for KMS (port 50000) and timesync is perfect across the domain. The only other 'quirk' I can think of is that the KMS host server is a Windows 2008 R2 Std server and the rest are all Windows 2008 R2 Ent...but that said, it's working for some/most of the servers..!!! Any ideas/thoughts/comments would be most welcome. Rgds FMcFF

Hi, Yes, virtual machines are counted in Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows server 2008 R2. For the 0xC004F074 error, please confirm whether you have a KMS server running Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. If so, please refer to the following article to troubleshoot this issue. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974998/en-us Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Environment Three seperate forest, each with a ROOT domain and then two children hanging off the ROOT (DMZ & INT). The KMS Host is a PHYSICAL server running Windows 2008 R2 Std... The KMS Clients are all VIRTUAL servers running Windows 2008 R2 Ent. Some KMS clients are worked prefectly, and picked up a license...some have not. I've followed the KMS to allow registration across multiple domains however, some clients work some don't (regardless of what domain they are in). Any more ideas?

Environment Three seperate forest, each with a ROOT domain and then two children hanging off the ROOT (DMZ & INT). As I mentioned above the KMS Host is a PHYSICAL server running Windows 2008 R2 Std and the KMS Clients are all VIRTUAL servers running Windows 2008 R2 Ent. Some KMS clients are worked prefectly, and picked up a license...some have not. I've followed the KMS to allow registration across multiple domains however, some clients work some don't (regardless of what domain they are in). Any more ideas?

also note...when I type nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp I get the following; Server: rtmnpr-dc05v.dmz-nonprod.trainline.com Address: 10.244.121.132 _vlmcs._tcp.DMZ-NONPROD.TRAINLINE.COM SRV service location: priority = 0 weight = 0 port = 50000 svr hostname = rtmnpr-dc01p.trainline.com rtmnpr-dc01p.trainline.com internet address = 10.244.102.70 This is the same on ALL clients The KMS host is up and responding to pings, the ports used are in the DYNAMIC range so this rules out firewall port issues.

Hi, Thank you for the quick response. This could be a DNS issue. What’s the result if you manually specify a KMS Host? You can manually assign a KMS host to KMS clients by using KMS host caching. Manually assigning a KMS host disables auto-discovery of KMS on the KMS client. Manually assign a KMS host to a KMS client by running: Copy Code slmgr.vbs /skms <value>:<port> where value is either the KMS_FQDN, IPv4Address, or NetbiosName of the KMS host and port is the TCP port on the KMS host. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

OK... Doing this resolved the issue on ONE client however the remain still get the F074 error whether I use FQDN, IPv4Address, or NetBios. I've checked, re-checked, and checked the config over and over again but cannot for the life of me see why they aren't registering

Looks like we're there now...at last. Thanks for your assistance... The last few that refused to register were all in one forest...when I went back to the host and issues the /sprt command again all kicked in to life. I am now sat by my workstation doing the happy dance. :-)

Hi, I am glad to hear this issue has been finally resolved. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.