Windows Server – Install 2022 Host Key on 2012R2 KMS Service

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I have tried installing "Windows Srv 2022 DataCtr/Std KMS host key" on Windows Server 2012R2 KMS server, but apparently it is failing:

The following error has occurred. Please resolve the error and try again.


Description:

The Software Licensing Service reported that the product key is invalid.

I am sure the key is correct, and I have the host key of 2019 already installed. I looked if there is an update to KMS on 2012R2 as the case has been for 2019, but apparently not yet, if anyone has an idea on how to get this going on 2012R2, help appreciated 🙂

Best Answer

I spoke to a Microsoft representative today since we are about to renew our Microsoft products plan, and there are no plans for extending Key Management Service (KMS) on 2012R2 to support Windows Server 2022 activation (or the installation of the 2022 KMS host keys).

As I mentioned earlier in the last comment, I was able to successfully upgrade the KMS server from 2012R2 to 2022 without any issues and installed the 2022 KMS host key. I also removed the 2019 KMS host key as it is no longer required.

Note

I upgraded 47x 2012R2 servers during the last 10 days, I am stunned that all upgrades were successful, among which were servers for Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager, NPS, Certificate authority, Azure AD Sync, WDS, WSUS, KMS, and TFS.

It is also worth mentioning that I as able to install Sharepoint 2019 on Windows server 2022 and it has been running without any issues.

Hope this is useful for people planning to upgrade their setups.

Related Solutions

Why won’t the Windows 7 KMS key work on the Server 2008 KMS server

As it turns out, the version of the KMS software included with Server 2008 is version 1.1. In order to use Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 KMS keys, you need to be running KMS 1.2. KMS 1.2 is included as part of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, but requires a separate download to run on Server 2008 (non-R2) or Server 2003.

I found the answer and more info on Microsoft's site: FAQ About Volume License Keys

KB article 968915 is now available and contains links to download KMS 1.2 for Windows 2003 Server. Here are direct links for x86 and x64.

KB article 968912 is now available and contains links to download KMS 1.2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008. Here are some direct links for Server 2008 (x86, x64, ia64) and Vista (x86 and x64).

Windows 7 activation problems using KMS

You say the CMIDs should be fine, but you haven't actually verified them. You need to find out whether all of the machines really do have unique CMIDs or not.

The KB article tells you to run slmgr.vbs -dli on the clients. And you say the output wasn't displaying the CMID. Did you actually run the command on the client workstations? Or did you accidentally run in on your KMS server instead? Running slmgr.vbs –dli on the KMS server won't show a "Client Machine ID" because it's not a client. So make sure you run the command on your clients and then compare the CMIDs to make sure they're not identical.

For instance, on my sample Win7 box, I get the following output from slmgr.vbs -dli:

Name: Windows(R) 7, Enterprise edition
Description: Windows Operating System - Windows(R) 7, VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel
Partial Product Key: XXXX
License Status: Licensed
Volume activation expiration: 247500 minute(s) (171 day(s))

Key Management Service client information
    Client Machine ID (CMID): 12910304-af39-4fc9-80df-f8c61526d9f9
    Registered KMS machine name: mykms.mydomain.com:1688
    KMS machine extended PID: 55041-00168-305-100667-03-1033-6002.0000-2372009
    Activation interval: 120 minutes
    Renewal interval: 10080 minutes
    KMS host caching is enabled

So the CMID on that machine is 12910304-af39-4fc9-80df-f8c61526d9f9.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Why won’t the Windows 7 KMS key work on the Server 2008 KMS server

Windows 7 activation problems using KMS

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