Remove KMS Host (2024)

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  Step by Step Guide:

  1. Uninstall the KMS host key first byrunning the following command:

  slmgr -upk

  2.Then, install thedefault kms key by running the following command:

  slmgr /ipk [KMS Client Setup Key]
  

  The default KMS client setup keys can be found here:

  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303280.aspx

  3. Delete the record from the DNS:

  Open DNS console:

  Expand_tcpnode under thedomain.com.Therewill be a record_VLMCS.Delete this record.

  4. The KMS server is uninstalled.

  MCSA/MCTS/MCP

  • Marked as answer by jzenno Wednesday, June 30, 2010 3:58 PM

  Wednesday, June 30, 2010 8:09 AM

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  Hi Jzenno,

  You can useslmgr.vbs /upk <Activation ID> to remove the KMS host key for Office 2010.

  The Office 2010 activation ID isbfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864.

  For more information on how to deploy volume activation of Office 2010, please refer to the link below.

  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624357.aspx#section

  In the future, for Office related issues, I suggest posting in the forum below.

  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/category/officeitpro

  The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the most qualified pool of respondents, and other customers who access the forum regularly can either share their knowledge or learn from your interaction with us. Thank you for your understanding.

  Regards,

  Karen Ji

  Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ” This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

  On July 1st we will be making this forum read only. After receiving a lot of feedback from the community, it was decided that this forum is a duplication and therefore redundant of the General Forum. So, until July 1st, we will start asking customers to redirect their questions to theGeneral Forum. On June 11th, CSS engineers will move any new threads to theGeneral Forum.

  Please post a reply tothe announcement thread if you have any feedback on this decision or the process. You can also email WSSDComm@microsoft.com.

  • Marked as answer by jzenno Wednesday, June 30, 2010 3:55 PM

  Wednesday, June 30, 2010 9:51 AM

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  Hello,

  the Office 2010 KMS host must run on Windows server 2008 R2 or Windows 7. So make sure this is correct before removing an older KMS host.

  Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

  Wednesday, June 30, 2010 7:02 AM

  See Also

  How to Use the Slmgr Command in WindowsGuidelines for troubleshooting DNS-related activation issuesMicrosoft Key Management Server (KMS) DetailsMicrosoft KMS Server

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  Step by Step Guide:

  1. Uninstall the KMS host key first byrunning the following command:

  slmgr -upk

  2.Then, install thedefault kms key by running the following command:

  slmgr /ipk [KMS Client Setup Key]
  

  The default KMS client setup keys can be found here:

  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303280.aspx

  3. Delete the record from the DNS:

  Open DNS console:

  Expand_tcpnode under thedomain.com.Therewill be a record_VLMCS.Delete this record.

  4. The KMS server is uninstalled.

  MCSA/MCTS/MCP

  • Marked as answer by jzenno Wednesday, June 30, 2010 3:58 PM

  Wednesday, June 30, 2010 8:09 AM

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  Hi Jzenno,

  You can useslmgr.vbs /upk <Activation ID> to remove the KMS host key for Office 2010.

  The Office 2010 activation ID isbfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864.

  For more information on how to deploy volume activation of Office 2010, please refer to the link below.

  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624357.aspx#section

  In the future, for Office related issues, I suggest posting in the forum below.

  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/category/officeitpro

  The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the most qualified pool of respondents, and other customers who access the forum regularly can either share their knowledge or learn from your interaction with us. Thank you for your understanding.

  Regards,

  Karen Ji

  Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ” This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

  On July 1st we will be making this forum read only. After receiving a lot of feedback from the community, it was decided that this forum is a duplication and therefore redundant of the General Forum. So, until July 1st, we will start asking customers to redirect their questions to theGeneral Forum. On June 11th, CSS engineers will move any new threads to theGeneral Forum.

  Please post a reply tothe announcement thread if you have any feedback on this decision or the process. You can also email WSSDComm@microsoft.com.

  • Marked as answer by jzenno Wednesday, June 30, 2010 3:55 PM

  Wednesday, June 30, 2010 9:51 AM

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  Thanks Karen &Senne.I used those instructions and it worked this time. I guess I was having trouble finding the 2010 activation key. Sorry about the wrong area, I guess I assumed it would be server related, who isn't runningservers that has enough lisc to deploy via KMS? Anyway I appreciate the info. It is a 2008 R2 machine sorry i dind't specify that orginally but all is well. Guess we just are not rolling into the new stuff quick enough to use KMS oh well.

  One more thing though, when i use slmgr.vbs it opens a windows script host window, when i say /dlv all it is so large it gets cut off at the bottom and has no way to scroll? Is this normal? I got around it by running it as cscript to out put in cmd window but figured I would ask.

  Thanks again.

  Jeff

  Wednesday, June 30, 2010 4:02 PM

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  Hi Jeff,

  Glad that your problem got solved.

  If you use "slmgr.vbs: directly, a window will prompt to show the result of the cmd you run. If the window cannot show all the information, it might because of the screen resolution.

  Anyway, of course you can use "cscript slmgr.vbs" command, then the result will be displayed in the command window.

  Regards,

  Karen Ji

  Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ” This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

  Thursday, July 1, 2010 1:27 AM

  See Also

  Découverte et Élimination des Hôtes KMS Non Autorisés pour Office et Windows

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  Can anyone point me to the documentation or help files that document the KMS hostuninstall procedure (removing a KMS host) for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2? (The link above,http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303280.aspx, refers to Vista and 2008).I have searched on Technet and find volume activation information for Windows 7 and Win2k8r2 (Here:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd996591.aspx) but can't seem to find the relevent uninstallinformation.

  In my particular situation, a different sysadmin created a VM for me and apparently used the KMS product key when installing Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition. The resulting host thinks it is a KMS server (but we already have one of those, thank you very much). So obviously I don't want to remove the valid _vlmcs SRV record in the DNS _tcp node (your step 3)!

  So after I uninstall the KMS host, do I need to activate my copy of Win2k8r2 EE (re-activate, actually)? Would I just use the GVLK fromhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793421.aspx(489J6-VHDMP-X63PK-3K798-CPX3Y for Win2k8r2 EE)?

  The advance help output from "slmgr.exe -?" indicates that the -upk option also requires an [Activation ID] as a parameter. Where do I find the [Application ID] for my KMS host?

  Also there is something called mKMSact.exe I have seen in various (non-Microsoft) forums, but that doesn't seem to be a part of this discussion, yet there are plenty of hits (some of which are malware removal hits) that indicate to remove the KMS host service from a Windows machine you need to use something called "mKMSact.exe".

  Thanks in advance.

  Monday, August 29, 2011 6:09 PM

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  Also, I neglected to include the error message from the new accidental KMS host server:

  Log Name: Application
  Source: Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP
  Date: 8/29/2011 2:43:21 PM
  Event ID: 12293
  Task Category: None
  Level: Error
  Keywords: Classic
  User: N/A
  Computer: COREP1-VM.meriter.com
  Description: Publishing the Key Management Service (KMS) to DNS in the 'meriter.com' domain failed.
  Info: 0x80072338

  Tuesday, August 30, 2011 1:41 PM

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  Hi George, use the command:
  cscript slmgr.vbs /upk

  this will "Uninstall Product Key" (upk) of the Windows product on the machine.
  this leaves the machine in an unlicensed state, so you then use /ipk
  (Install Product Key) to apply the relevant kms-client key, which will then activate to your "proper" kms-host.

  entering the Activation ID is optional, if not specified, the affected Activation ID (product key) will be the primary/own key for that machine. in your case, that's exactly the key you wish to change.

  you can do this via the GUI if you prefer (change product key)

  you can ignore the steps to remove the dns srv record for the incorrect kms-host, if there is no _vlmcs record there for it then there is nothing to remove.

  the TN library links you have quoted are the ones you need.

  Don

  Wednesday, August 31, 2011 11:28 AM

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  I know you are trying to make this as simple as possible to understand, but it is still about as clear as mud.

  You say I can use the GUI if I prefer (change product key). I assume you mean Control Panel > System and Security > System Properties > Windows Activation > Change Product Key. ("Computer Properties") But my copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 already indicates Activation was successful. Why would I want to change the product key?

  If I can usea GUI tochange the product key(seems nice)can I also find a GUI touninstall the accidental KMS host I got stuck with? It isn't in the "Programs and Features > Uninstall or change a program". It isn't listed in"Roles" in Server Manager. It isn't listed in "Features" in Server Manager.

  Don't I have to uninstall a KMS host service? How can it only be the matter of replacing a license key? Isn't that just a text file somewhereso replacing a text key doesn't uninstall the accidental implementation of a KMS infrastructure on my server?

  What is the "mKMSact.exe" tool I find when I search for this subject on the Internet?

  Thanks Don, or whoever else feels qualified to step in and clearup the mud for me.

  Rant: Microsoft has really done themselves a disservice in how this was implemented. Licensing should bea one-time administrative task, set-it and forget-it. Only a non-technical administrative contract/licensing specialist should even have to deal with any of this nonsense.

  Wednesday, August 31, 2011 3:01 PM

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  George, it's both simpler and more complicated than it appears ;)

  Vista + Win7 + SRV2008 + SRV2008R2 all have KMShost(for activating Windows)capability built-in. Office2010 KMShost is an addon.

  a KMShost is created on Vista + Win7 + SRV2008 + SRV2008R2, simply by "installing" a special product key.
  this triggers the box to reconfigure itself as a "customer hosted activation service".

  Yes, you can use GUI via the steps you mention.

  your VM was incorrectly installed *AND* activated using a KMShost product key. to un-do that, you need to change the current product key, and that will de-activate the KMShost functions. (note that this isn't really necessary if no activation requests ever get directed to your VM, you could just leave it as-is).

  if you de-activate as KMShost, then you need to re-activate as KMSclient. (or MAK if you prefer)

  the references to mKMSact.exe are unknown to me.I suspect they may be part of the piracy approach by the people who do that sort of thing. Irecommend youstay well clear of such things.

  if this is all too much, leave your VM as-is. no licensing agreements are being broken by running an extra KMShost, and, KMShost is a very lightweight service that runs as a listener, it doesn't phone-home or poll clients or do discoveries etc.

  I personally find the KMS/VA solution quite easy to deal with (once I got my head around it and got familiar).
  Admittedly, I have the luxury of a broad team to permit me to spend time on such things.
  (although little choice, as we have many isolated/firewalled networks, ~7000 servers, and ~55000 desktops)
  (I expect to be building quite a few more KMShosts :)

  Don

  • Proposed as answer by George Perkins Thursday, September 1, 2011 2:03 PM

  Wednesday, August 31, 2011 9:30 PM

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  Thanks Don for the clarification. It would be nice if the Microsoft documentationjust saidthis plainly.

  For the record, here are the commands (in bold) I ran and they did the trick.

  C:\Windows\system32>cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv

  Software licensing service version: 6.1.7601.17514
  Name: Windows Server(R), ServerEnterprise edition
  Description: Windows Operating System - Windows Server(R), VOLUME_KMS_R2_B channel
  Activation ID: c9xxxx1f-c4ea-4e63-bec3-5exxxxxxxx57
  Application ID: 55xxxx34-d682-4d71-983e-d6xxxxxxxx9f
  Extended PID: xxxxx-00168-313-104753-03-1033-7601.0000-21xxxxx
  Installation ID: 00xxxxxxxxxx670411087761660282413841821481xxxxxxxxxx35
  Processor Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88342
  Machine Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88343
  Use License URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88345
  Product Key Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88344
  Partial Product Key: YxxxM
  License Status: Licensed
  Remaining Windows rearm count: 3
  Trusted time: 8/31/2011 10:23:23 AM
  Key Management Service is enabled on this machine
  Current count: 0
  Listening on Port: 1688
  DNS publishing enabled
  KMS priority: Normal
  Key Management Service cumulative requests received from clients
  Total requests received: 0
  Failed requests received: 0
  Requests with License Status Unlicensed: 0
  Requests with License Status Licensed: 0
  Requests with License Status Initial grace period: 0
  Requests with License Status License expired or Hardware out of tolerance: 0
  Requests with License Status Non-genuine grace period: 0
  Requests with License Status Notification: 0

  
  C:\Windows\system32>cscript slmgr.vbs /upk
  Uninstalled product key successfully.

  
  C:\Windows\system32>cscript slmgr.vbs /ipk 489J6-VHDMP-X63PK-3K798-CPX3Y
  Installed product key 489J6-VHDMP-X63PK-3K798-CPX3Y successfully.

  
  C:\Windows\system32>cscript slmgr.vbs /ato
  Activating Windows Server(R), ServerEnterprise edition (62xxxx3d-09e7-42fd-802a-17xxxxxxxx7a) ...
  Product activated successfully.

  
  C:\Windows\system32>cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv
  Software licensing service version: 6.1.7601.17514
  Name: Windows Server(R), ServerEnterprise edition
  Description: Windows Operating System - Windows Server(R), VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel
  Activation ID: 62xxxx3d-09e7-42fd-802a-17xxxxxxxx7a
  Application ID: 55xxxx34-d682-4d71-983e-d6xxxxxxxx9f
  Extended PID: xxxxx-00168-001-000107-03-1033-7601.0000-2432011
  Installation ID: 01xxxxxxxxxx7347734295547191215001445625xxxxxxxxxxxx24
  Partial Product Key: CPX3Y
  License Status: Licensed
  Volume activation expiration: 259200 minute(s) (180 day(s))
  Remaining Windows rearm count: 1
  Trusted time: 8/31/2011 10:26:22 AM
  Key Management Service client information
  Client Machine ID (CMID): fcxxxxfb-fba9-4153-b342-b0xxxxxxxxc2
  KMS machine name from DNS: kms01-vm.xxxxxx.com:1688
  KMS machine extended PID: xxxxx-00168-313-104753-03-1033-7600.0000-xxxxxx
  Activation interval: 120 minutes
  Renewal interval: 10080 minutes
  KMS host caching is enabled

  Thursday, September 1, 2011 2:29 PM

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  Great news George!
  thanks for sharing your outcome in such detail, it will help many others !

  Don

  Thursday, September 1, 2011 9:46 PM

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  I need to take KMS off 2003 server. What would the default KMS key be for Windows server 2003? I am referring to step 2.

  Then, install thedefault kms key by running the following command:

  slmgr /ipk [KMS Client Setup Key]

  Tuesday, January 28, 2014 3:30 PM

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  I need to take KMS off 2003 server. What would the default KMS key be for Windows server 2003? I am referring to step 2.

  Then, install thedefault kms key by running the following command:

  slmgr /ipk [KMS Client Setup Key]

  WS2003 does not itself use KMS nor does it have a need for a default KMSclient nor MAK key.
  Later/newer OS does have a requirement for a key at all times, but WS2003 doesn't use VolumeActivation 2.0.

  So, to decommission your WS2003 KMShost, all you need to do is to uninstall the OfficeKMShostpack and KMShostpack. You should also check for any DNS records that refer to this host for KMS purposes (_VLMCS._TCP) and remove them.

  Don
  (Please take a moment to "Vote as Helpful" and/or "Mark as Answer", where applicable.
  This helps the community, keeps the forums tidy, and recognises useful contributions. Thanks!)

  Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:09 PM

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  Great!
  Helped so much!

  I'm posting here the keys for new products:
  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/kmsclientkeys

  Regards,

  Marcelo Lucas Guimarães
  MCP, MCTS, MCDBA, MCITP
  Twitter: @mlucasg7
  Blog: http://mlucasg.wordpress.com

  Thursday, June 27, 2019 5:57 PM