How to fix Windows Activation Error 0x8007232b
Possible Error Messages
Error message 1
Windows could not be activated.
Key management services (KMS) host could not be located in the domain name system (DNS), please have your system administrator verify that a KMS is published correctly in DNS.
Error: 0x8007232b
Description: DNS name does not exist.
Error message 2
Error: 0x8007007B
“The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect”
Solutions
Solution 1
Change the product key to a MAK. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Open CMD as an administrator.
2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press Enter:
slmgr -ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
NOTE: Placeholder xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx represents your MAK product key.
Once you are done with this, you should see this:
Just restart your computer and the problem should be resolved.
Solution 2
Configure a KMS host server for the clients to activate against KMS activation requires that a KMS host server be configured for the clients to activate against. If there are no KMS hosts servers configured in your environment, install and activate a KMS host server by using an appropriate KMS host server key. After you configure a computer on the network to host the KMS software, publish the Domain Name System (DNS) settings. For an overview of the KMS hosts server configuration process, go to Set Up a KMS Host on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Machine video.
Solution 3
The client cannot locate a KMS host on the network for activation: If your network has a KMS host computer set up, and if the client cannot locate a KMS host on the network for activation, follow these steps:
1. Verify that the computer that has the KMS host installed and that is activated by using a KMS key is registered in DNS. To do this, follow these steps:
Open CMD as an administrator. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
nslookup -type=all _vlmcs._tcp>kms.txt
Open the KMS.txt file that is generated by the command. This file should contain one or more entries that resemble the following entry:
If these “_vlmcs” entries are present, and if they contain the expected KMS hostnames, go to the “Solution 4” section.
2. By default, a KMS host server dynamically registers a DNS SRV record one time every 24 hours. Check the registry to determine whether the KMS host server is registering with DNS. To do this, follow these steps:
- Click Start, type regedit, and then press Enter.
- Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SL - If the DisableDnsPublishing subkey is present and has a value of 1, the KMS service does not register in DNS. If the DisableDnsPublishing subkey is missing, create a new DWORD value namedDisableDnsPublishing. If dynamic registration is acceptable, change the subkey value to 0. To do this, right-click DisableDnsPublishing, click Modify, type 0 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
If the DNS Server service does not support dynamic updates, or if dynamic updates are not occurring, the “VLMCS._TCP, SRV” record may be manually registered. To manually create a KMS SRV record in a Microsoft DNS server, follow these steps:
- On the DNS server, open DNS Manager. To open DNS Manager, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click DNS.
- Click the DNS server where you have to create the SRV resource record.
- In the console tree, expand Forward Lookup Zones, right-click the domain, and then click Other New Records.
- Scroll down the list, click Service Location (SRV), and then click Create Record.
- Type the following information:
- Service: _VLMCS
- Protocol: _TCP
- Port number: 1688
- Host offering the service: <FQDN_of_KMS_Host>
- When you are finished, click OK, and then click Done.
To manually create SRV records in a BIND 9.x Compliant DNS server includes the following information when you create the record.
Solution 4
Manually assign a KMS server: By default, the KMS clients use the automatic discovery feature and query DNS for a list of servers that have published the _VLMCS record within the membership zone of the client. DNS returns the list of KMS hosts in random order. The client picks a KMS host and tries to establish a session on it. If this attempt works, the client caches the server and tries to use it for the next renewal attempt. If the session setup fails, the client picks another server randomly. We highly recommend that you use the automatic discovery feature. However, you can manually assign a KMS server. To do this, open an elevated command prompt on the KMS client.
To open an elevated command prompt, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
Use the following commands from an elevated command prompt:
→ To assign a KMS host by using the FQDN of the host, type the following command:
cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -skms <KMS_FQDN>:<port>
→ To assign a KMS host by using the version 4 IP address of the host, type the following command:
cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -skms <IPv4Address><:port>
→ To assign a KMS host by using the version 6 IP address of the host, type the following command:
cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -skms <IPv6Address><:port>
→ To assign a KMS host by using the NETBIOS name of the host, type the following command:
cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -skms <NetbiosName><:port>
→ To revert to automatic discovery on a KMS client, type the following command:
cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs –ckms