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Getting error 0xC004F074 when activating against KMS server

  • Artikel

Hi

This error code is a very generic output to a KMS client having problems activating. To view your output, run slmgr.vbs –ato

When troubleshooting this problem, we checked the following details – if any were a problem, they would generate this error code:

  • DNS record not published at _VLMCS._tcp.client.domain. This must be an SRV record, which the KMS server will automatically register. If you have disabled this, you will need to use a GPO on the clients to point them to the correct KMS server to use
  • No network connectivity from the KMS client to the MS server on the KMS port (tcp/1688 by default). Install telnet on the client and run telnet KMS.Server.Name 1688 and make sure the screen goes blank
  • Not more than 4 hours time difference between KMS server and client. Check that your time zones are correct. If using server core, run timedate.cpl
  • No major hardware changes to the KMS server. If the KMS server is a VM and you have added a number of new devices, CPUs, memory etc, or P2Ved you will need to reactivate your KMS license
  • The KMS service must have the keys to issue for the KMS client requesting a license. For example, if the KMS server is Windows Server 2008 and you are trying to activate Windows 7, you will need an update installed on the KMS server AND the correct KMS key for Windows 7.

And the last one was the problem we hit: Our KMS server was Windows Server 2008 R2, just as the KMS clients. We’d crossed the threshold of 5 servers. But they still would not activate. The problem was that there are different license “channels” for Windows Server. They are described here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793411.aspx

Our servers which were having problems activating were all Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition, and we had a “B Channel” KMS license installed on the KMS server.

We followed these steps on the KMS server to install the correct channel license:

  1. slmgr -upk
  2. slmgr -cpky
  3. slmgr -ipk <KMS Host Product Key - channel C>
  4. slmgr -ato

After doing the above, we ran slmgr -ato on the Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition servers. Note that “Channel C” is able to active all lower level channels.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Jeff: An example for Step 3 would be: slmgr /ipk ABC123-DEF456-GHI789-JKL012-MNO345

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @vikky : can you paste the entire text of your command prompt window here so I can see where the error is. Thanks.

    • Anonymous
      March 24, 2017
      In step 3 syntax incorrect

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Even: I'm not 100% sure what you are asking. But to sync a clock you run this command: w32tm /resync [/computer:] /nowait
    Where the /computername field is optional and means the computer whose clock should be synchronised using the existing settings defined on that computer. If you leave out this field, it means to sync the clock of the local machine. Domain joined machines automatically sync their clocks using the AD domain hierarchy to discover the closest DC.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Brendan. Sorry, you'd need to get support through your normal channel as this needs troubleshooting beyond what a blog comments section can provide.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Albert: Blog comments aren't the forum for troubleshooting production issues. You should contact your TAM or SDM representing your Premier Support contract for assistance, or log a request for support here:http://support.microsoft.com/

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Jim: Not sure what you mean. It sounds like you ran these commands on a retail version of Windows? This instruction was clearly intended for the KMS server.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Jomari - Sorry, you'd need to get support through your normal channel as this needs troubleshooting beyond what a blog comments section can provide.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Stilfari - Blog comments aren't the forum for troubleshooting production issues. You should contact your TAM or SDM representing your Premier Support contract for assistance, or log a request for support here:http://support.microsoft.com/
    To get you started however, I think the commands in the blog should re-activate your KMS key. If you tried them without success, then just build a new KMS computer and activate that. A single KMS key should be able to be activated not more than 5 times. KMS servers don't retain any permanent "state" for activations.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @jim: you need to enter the producy key after -ipk
    So, if your individual C-channel KMS Host Key is 11111-22222-33333-44444-55555, then the command is:
    slmgr -ipk 11111-22222-33333-44444-55555

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Jess: https://www.microsoft.com/Licensing/servicecenter/default.aspx
    Logon with the Microsoft Account (formerly Live ID) with rights to your volume license agreement.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Logavarthanan - The -ato switch means "Active Online". What this tells your KMS server to do it go to the Microsoft servers on the internet and consume one of your 5 KMS server activations. It sounds like your KMS server cannot get direct access to the internet. Use the command SLUI 4 to show you phone numbers you can dial to complete your KMS server activation. See here:https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793416.aspx

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @vinod sharma:
    Yes

  • Anonymous
    April 20, 2011
    Thank you for your information!!! =) I could solve a issue using your information!!!! Fabio, Brazil.

  • Anonymous
    September 02, 2012
    Hai i got syntax error

  • Anonymous
    May 21, 2013
    nice.. worked for me too

  • Anonymous
    October 22, 2013
    How do you open the command for KMS server? Is it in Command Prompt? More detailed steps for amateur users please

  • Anonymous
    December 05, 2013
    @David: The command slmgr is a vbs script located at C:windowssystem32 You can simply run the commands above, or if you'd like the output to the screen (instead of pop-ups), then open a command prompt (as administrator if needed) and change to c:windowssystem32 then run: cscript.exe slmgr.vbs with the switches stated above.

  • Anonymous
    March 04, 2014
    Hi David,

    I'm having the same issue with Windows 8, and I was wondering if you could help me in any way at all? I have tried every available solution online, such as putting my Product Key through slmgr.vbs /ipk and Slui 3 and resetting the KMS timezone and fixing corrupted files on my computer, but to no avail.

    Any help would be appreciated, I'm all out of options.

    Thank you!

  • Anonymous
    March 04, 2014
    Hi Craig* I mean, I'm really sorry, I read the wrong name!

  • Anonymous
    March 19, 2014
    hie Craig how do activate my windows 8 pro using slmgr.vbs/ato to activate and update KMS client information

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2014
    thanks a lot . . . it wiped my cd key and i don't even have that anymore

  • Anonymous
    May 05, 2014
    what helped for me was the clock issue.
    in case the machine is in workgroup there's no sync to NTP server, so syncing the clock helped.
    any recommendation how to sync machines which are part of groups with the clock?

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2014
    does not work for me :( it still not activated. please help

  • Anonymous
    August 26, 2014
    Hi,
    I was wondering if there was a way around having to reactivate the KMS server license.
    We had the KMS server running on a desktop with VMWare workstation while waiting for the server to arrive.
    We have received the server and installed ESXi on it, and exported the VM to .ovf and reimported it on the ESXi.
    The imported VM is not activated, and we cannot use the KMS server.

    Can you tell me what I can do?

    Thanks in advance.

  • Anonymous
    October 20, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    October 28, 2014
    Hi Craig, like Vikki I'm getting a syntax error on step 3. Can you post an example? Thanks, Jeff

  • Anonymous
    January 06, 2015
    Hi, Could you help me on my sending email is not working properly, give me information how to fix this problem.

    Regards,
    Albert

  • Anonymous
    January 26, 2015
    Hai i got syntax error
    slmgr -ipk

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2015
    I Craig, thanks for the info. so where do I find the KMS host key?

  • Anonymous
    April 30, 2015
    Sir, I have a the same error at the end of the last command. no key management service could be contacted

  • Anonymous
    May 14, 2015
    no

  • Anonymous
    July 20, 2015
    it says that i need 'elevated permision' help!!!!

  • Anonymous
    July 21, 2015
    @hi guy: That means that you need to right-click cmd and choose "Run as Administrator". Though, if you aren't familiar with running elevated, then it's probably best that you have someone from Microsoft Support guide you here as you could be in a different situation that the one that has been blogged about. Visit http://support.microsoft.com to get assistance.

  • Anonymous
    July 29, 2015
    Hi Craig
    I am having Windows 8 on my laptop and getting Error 0xC004F074 bla bla bla. No Key Management Services (KMS) could be contacted.

    Kindly suggest how to resolve the above issue in Windows 8

  • Anonymous
    July 29, 2015
    @Devesh: Blog forums aren't a good place to gather detailed information and start troubleshooting. Visit support.microsoft.com to get assistance with your specific problem.

  • Anonymous
    August 20, 2015
    i got to 1 and 2, it cleared my key then i entered 3 and i got a syntax error...

  • Anonymous
    August 20, 2015
    @ivan: A syntax error means you made a typo. The format is slmgr -ipk 11111-22222-33333-44444-55555
    Be sure not to use copy and paste as the - sign has 2 meanings and some text display systems use the wrong dash.

  • Anonymous
    August 20, 2015
    i got to 1 and 2, it cleared my key then i entered 3 and i got a syntax error...

  • Anonymous
    August 20, 2015
    when you get to "slmgr -ipk ", what do you put as the host product key?

  • Anonymous
    August 20, 2015
    @ivan: You enter your product key you retrieved from the volume license website:https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/
    You need to login with an account that is authorised to access the site.

  • Anonymous
    August 20, 2015
    i dont know how to access that site. its asking for License numbers and authorization number and i have no idea how to get those. all i need is the product key to get my windows to work.

  • Anonymous
    August 20, 2015
    @ivan: This blog post is specifically about activating Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition against your own KMS server you run in your corporate environment. It sounds like you are having difficulties with a private copy of Windows client. If this is the case, please visit support.microsoft.com and follow the guides there to locate the right support option for you.

  • Anonymous
    September 02, 2015
    why im still error?

  • Anonymous
    September 02, 2015
    im at CLIENT VL
    BUT STILL ERROR HELP ME PLZ

  • Anonymous
    September 02, 2015
    @adrian: You'll be best working with our paid per-incident support at http://support.microsoft.com

  • Anonymous
    October 02, 2015
    Francis from Ghana, having the same problem with my windows 10

  • Anonymous
    October 02, 2015
    @Francis: See here for the steps needed to prepare your existing KMS server to activate your Windows 10 clients:https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3058168
    Note that there is a special key on your volume license site for activating Windows 10 clients while Windows Server 2016 is not yet available. If your question relates to a single Windows 10 client having activation issues, then get support athttp://support.microsoft.com

  • Anonymous
    October 05, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    October 05, 2015
    @Daniel: Good to hear it helped you.

  • Anonymous
    November 11, 2015
    Simply changing the port int he settings menu to 1690 did it for me

  • Anonymous
    April 06, 2016
    Thank you. It works.

  • Anonymous
    September 13, 2016
    We are having this issue for the first time in our corporate environment, and just noticed all these comments today, is there a wider issue?

  • Anonymous
    November 09, 2016
    Hi Craig,Is there a way to get kms licensing to work where kms host is on a different date/time than the kms client? Kms client server has more than 4hrs time difference.Thanks in advance.Regards,Cesar

    • Anonymous
      December 15, 2016
      @Cesar Tayapad - Sorry it's been so long since you posted. They can be in different time ZONES, but their UTC times need to be close. If they both have accurate time for the timezone they are set to, then your issue is something else. Make sure they have the correct time zones set and that their clocks are accurate for that time zone.

  • Anonymous
    December 11, 2016
    Hi, I am a small youtuber and whenever I record on my handycam i get the memory card out of the camera and put on my windows 10 to view it and edit but when i want to watch the video it just says " plateform not suppoted error 0xc04f074 or something like that please help

    • Anonymous
      December 15, 2016
      @Daniela - Sorry that doesn't have anything to do with a KMS server so isn't relevant here. If you'd like help with your issue, if a Windows media player is used, then contact support at http://support.microsoft.comIf you are using another media player to play the video (like VLC, then you'd need to contact the vendor of that program for help.

  • Anonymous
    December 30, 2016
    We use Windows 7 exclusively for our end users and some time ago I updated our Server 2008 R2 to support Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 with the patches to support KMS activation from a request from our software developers. I ran into this error and double-checked everything and still a "no go" with this error. After some pain and suffering I installed KMS on our new Server 2012 R2 system that is going to replace the Server 2008 R2 system and everything just works. I sure wish the developers at Microsoft would share more insights into EVERY error code KMS throws as it is nearly impossible to troubleshoot and error where the client says it cannot contact the KMS server, but the KMS server shows it is receiving a request and not activating.

    • Anonymous
      January 07, 2017
      @Eddie - If you have support questions, please do contact http://support.microsoft.com to get quick resolutions to issues.

  • Anonymous
    April 26, 2017
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 15, 2017
    I am unable to activate my windows 8 pro I tried out every possible solutionError Details Error code: 0xC004C003can you help me in fixing this issue

    • Anonymous
      December 15, 2017
      @Saher - You'll need to engage with our support team via https://support.microsoft.com to troubleshoot your problem