Troubleshooting KMS Activation

Topics:

Checking If Your DNS Domain Is Configured For KMS

The check if a particular DNS domain has been configured for KMS, enter the following command:

nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp.<your DNS domain>

For example, here is the output when checking the unity.ad.ncsu.edu domain:

C:\>nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp.unity.ad.ncsu.edu
Server: ns3.ncsu.edu
Address: 152.1.1.206
_vlmcs._tcp.unity.ad.ncsu.edu SRV service location:
priority = 0
weight = 0
port = 1688
svr hostname = kms1.oit.ncsu.edu

 

Checking A Computer's License And Activation Configuration

You can display the computer's license and activation configuration with the following command:

cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -dli

The output for a computer that has been successfully activated looks like this:

C:\Windows\system32>cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -dli
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Name: Windows(TM) Vista, Enterprise edition
Description: Windows Operating System - Vista, VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel
Partial Product Key: 4BWMV
License Status: Licensed
Volume activation expiration: 259193 minute(s) (179 day(s))

Key Management Service client information
Client Machine ID (CMID): 6c50254a-9636-4ed3-bbe7-368905f39f57
KMS machine name from DNS: kms1.oit.ncsu.edu:1688
KMS machine extended PID: 55041-00142-026-826687-03-1033-6000.0000-3472006
Activation interval: 120 minutes
Renewal interval: 10080 minutes

Pay particular attention to the lines in bold. The output above shows that the computer was successfully activated and that it found the KMS service via DNS.

 

KMS Server Not Appearing In SLMGR.VBS Output

You may not see the KMS server in the slmgr.vbs -dli output as shown above.  Instead, the output will look something like this:

C:\Windows\system32>cscript slmgr.vbs -dli
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Name: Windows(TM) Vista, Enterprise edition
Description: Windows Operating System - Vista, VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel
Partial Product Key: 4BWMV
License Status: Licensed
Volume activation expiration: 259199 minute(s) (179 day(s))

Key Management Service client information
Client Machine ID (CMID): 6c50254c-9636-4ed3-bbe7-365905a39a57
DNS auto-discovery: KMS name not available
KMS machine extended PID: 55041-00142-026-826687-03-1033-6000.0000-3472006
Activation interval: 120 minutes
Renewal interval: 10080 minutes

Using an account with Vista's User Account Control Admin Approval Mode disabled causes the KMS name to appear.  By default, all Vista accounts except the built in Administrator account have Admin Approval Mode enabled.  This includes accounts that are members of the Administrators group.

To see the KMS server name, you can either use the built in Administrator account or disable Admin Approval Mode for members of the Administrators group.

By default, the built in Administrator account does not have a password set and is disabled.  You will need to set a password, enable the account, and then log on using the account.

The other method is to disable Admin Approval Mode for members of the Administrators group by performing the following steps (you could also apply a group policy):

Check to see if the KMS server has sufficent clients to perform activations.

Microsoft requires that a volume license server maintain a certain minimum number of active clients. Should the number of clients drop below this threshold, the KMS server will refuse to perform any activations.

You can see the thresholds and current number of activations for ITD's KMS servers at http://microsys.unity.ncsu.edu/status/KMS-Licenses.html . This page is updated each morning with accurate counts.

If the KMS server has dropped below the minimum number of systems, please contact the Microsys group so we can take action.

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