The IaaS Key Management Service seems to be down

Question

I was trying to Activate windows on my IaaS VM and I am getting the following error:

Is this a known issue?

Thanks

Answer 1

Which region is the VM in?

I just created a new VM in East US and it activated.

Does this PowerShell command return True when run from within that VM?

(New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient("kms.core.windows.net", 1688)).client.connected

Also, when you run this:

cscript.exe %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs /dlv

Do you see this under Key Management Service client information?

Registered KMS machine name: kms.core.windows.net:1688

Thanks,

Craig

Answer 2

Craig, yes this VM is in East US region.

I did get true on the PowerShell script, but didn't see anything referencing the Registered KMS machine name.

Answer 3

In which region is the VM?

The Platform Images have the KMS server specified in the registry.

When you run:

reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform"

Do you see:

KeyManagementServiceName    REG_SZ    kms.core.windows.net

Thanks,

Craig

Answer 4

East US

I do see that listed.

Answer 5

What does Get-Date return in PowerShell?

Try temporarily disabling the Windows Firewall:

netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state off

Then run:

cscript.exe %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

What error does it return, and what related error do you see in the Application log?

Enable the firewall again with netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state on

So you created the VM from the 2008 R2 Platform Image, correct? And what type of configuration did you do between when it was first created and when you noticed the activation error?

Thanks,
Craig

Answer 6

What does Get-Date return in PowerShell?
Monday, June 25, 2012 4:48:56 PM

Try temporarily disabling the Windows Firewall:

netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state off

Then run:

cscript.exe %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

What error does it return, and what related error do you see in the Application log?
Input Error: Can not find script file "C:\Users\Administrator\%windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs".

Application log 1:

The client has sent an activation request to the key management service machine.
Info:
0xC002001C, 0x00000000, kms.core.windows.net:1688, 164d3e4c-eaab-436c-8a3f-6f3b4ca76223, 2012/06/25 19:44, 1, 2, 38460, 7482e61b-c589-4b7f-8ecc-46d455ac3b87, 5

Application log 2:

License Activation Scheduler (sppuinotify.dll) was not able to automatically activate.  Error code:
0xC004F074

Enable the firewall again with netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state on

So you created the VM from the 2008 R2 Platform Image, correct?

Yes

And what type of configuration did you do between when it was first created and when you noticed the activation error?

I changed the timezone, attached drives, patched the OS (39 patches from WindowsUpdate.com), Installed SQL Server 2008 R2, Rebooted the machine, transferred copies of sql databases and restored and configured them.

Thanks,
Craig

Answer 7

Change the time zone back to (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time, and then make sure the time itself is around 9:05 PM.

Then do the slmgr command again without the %windir% which failed because you ran it in a PowerShell prompt and PowerShell doesn't know what %windir% means.

cscript.exe c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

Thanks,
Craig

Answer 8

Change the time zone back to (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time, and then make sure the time itself is around 9:05 PM.

Then do the slmgr command again without the %windir% which failed because you ran it in a PowerShell prompt and PowerShell doesn't know what %windir% means.

cscript.exe c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

Thanks,
Craig

 Activating Windows Server(R), ServerDatacenter edition (7482e61b-c589-4b7f-83cc-46d455ac3b87)...

Error: 0xC004F074 The Software Licensing Service reported that the computer could not be activated. The Key Management service (KMS) is unavailable.

Maybe we should try another reboot?

Answer 9

Yeah, restart it. When it comes back up:

• Make sure date and time are correct, that timezone is UTC and time is correct for UTC.
  
  
• Disable firewall by running:
  
  netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state off
  
  
• Make sure the KMS server is still reachable by running:
  
  (New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient("kms.core.windows.net", 1688)).client.connected
  
  
• Make sure KeyManagementServiceName registry value is kms.core.windows.net by running:
  
  reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform" /v KeyManagementServiceName
  
  
• Then try to activate with:
  
  cscript.exe c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

Answer 10

Craig I appreciate your time on this matter, I tried the steps below and I am still getting the same thing.

Answer 11

Can you please send mail to [e-mail] with your subscription ID and the deployment ID of that VM?

Thanks,

Craig

Answer 12

It is on its way.

Thanks again

Answer 13

I confirmed that the activation failure was a result of the IP being blocked by the activation server. I've followed up to get that correct on our side. If you need to activate this VM as soon as possible, you can recreate it in a different cloud service so it gets a different virtual IP (VIP).

Thanks,

Craig

Answer 14

Craig, same problem to me, may I send to you my information ?

Kind regards

Gaston Touron

Answer 15

Hi,

I also have the same issue in the north region, can I also ask you for help fixing it? :)

Thanks,

mc

Answer 16

Gaston and mchalls,

I am following up on this issue internally. Note that activation status does not impact the services running on the server. Not activating will generate persistent notifications reminding you to activate the server. Services and remote administration are not affected. 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/R2-product-activation.aspx

Thanks,

Craig

Answer 17

Hello. 3 months have passed since the last message. The problem is solved? I created two virtual machines located in Western Europe, none of them activating (  I understand that it has little effect on the job, but still...

Answer 18

Hello,

I have the same activation problem on a fresh windows 2012 server installation, I've tried all the procedure I've found in this tread but nothing change.

This is the error:

Activating Windows(R), ServerDatacenter edition (d3643d60-0c42-412d-a7d6-52e6635327f6) ...
Error: 0xC004F074 The Software Licensing Service reported that the computer could not be activated. No Key Management Service (KMS) could be contacted.
 Please see the Application Event Log for additional information.

thank you

^FDL

---

Fabrizio FDL

Answer 19

Hello,

I have the very same problem here on a fresh Windows 2012 VM.

Regards,

--
Pierre Yager

Answer 20

We are currently investigating an issue with the KMS service. Note that there is no reduced functionality mode in 2008 R2 and 2012 if they are not activated as there was in 2008, so there is no need to recreate the VM.

Thanks,

Craig

Answer 21

Hi Craig,

I also have a Windows Server 2008R2 with SP1 VM on WestUS Region on my EA Account.

Have verified the below.

1. Disable firewall by running:
netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state off
Result: Done

2. Make sure the KMS server is still reachable by running:
(New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient("kms.core.windows.net", 1688)).client.connected
Result: .client.connected was unexpected at this time.

3. Make sure KeyManagementServiceName registry value is kms.core.windows.net by running:
Result: As expected it is kms.core.windows.net

4. Then try to activate with:
cscript.exe c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato
Result: 

Activating Windows Server(R), ServerDatacenter edition (7482e61b-c589-4b7f-8ecc-
46d455ac3b87) ...
Error: 0xC004F074 The Software Licensing Service reported that the computer coul
d not be activated. The Key Management Service (KMS) is unavailable

Will i be able yo activate any time soon? to get rid of the remainder.

Thanks,

Answer 22

I post a fix I found to activate my Azure VM

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/WAVirtualMachinesforWindows/thread/f29d5fe7-4f0f-433d-8333-1d336f68a4db/

Laurent

Answer 23

I discover that the primary reason for our KMS issues were DNS host name related. If you don't configure DNS lookup service correctly, the host name "kms.core.windows.net" is not resolved. Use the following command to test lookup:  NSLOOKUP kms.core.windows.net .

Here's another quick fix if the above nslookup fails, or you can't wait for DNS to be configure correctly:

1.  Start powershell on server…. and cut and paste below commands into powershell

2.  Disable firewall service during initial registration using command:

     netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state off

3.  Modify the Registry:

    Reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform" /v KeyManagementServiceName /t REG_SZ /d 70.37.71.239

    Value KeyManagementServiceName exists, overwrite(Yes/No)? y

    The operation completed successfully.

4.  Check Registry

     Reg query “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform” /v KeyManagementServiceName REG_SZ kms.core.windows.net

5.  Force KMS registration:

    Cscript.exe C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

6.  Check KMS registration

    Cscript.exe C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /dlv

7.  Activate firewall

    netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state on

8.  Reboot server

Answer 24

I have done everything described here and in other related posts, and I still cannot get my VM to activate.  I have completed deleted the VM (but not the underlying disks) and cloud service twice now, and even that doesn't help things.

Answer 25

Please refer to the following article:

Troubleshooting Windows activation failures on Azure VMs
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mast/archive/2014/12/23/troubleshooting-windows-activation-failures-on-azure-vms.aspx

Thanks,
Craig