KMS 1.1 For Windows Server 2003 Installation Issues

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KMS 1.1 For Windows Server 2003 Installation Issues

Hello my name is Scott McArthur and I am a support escalation engineer in the Windows Platforms group and specialize in activation issues. We have had a number of support calls around issues with KMS 1.1 for Windows Server 2003. There are two different versions of KMS for Windows Server 2003.

  • KMS for Windows Server 2003 1.0 only works with Vista RTM KMS host keys.
  • KMS for Windows Server 2003 1.1 works with both Vista RTM KMS, Vista SP1, and 2008 KMS keys

One of the symptoms is that when you install the KMS host key on your KMS host

slmgr.vbs -ipk <kms host key>

You receive a error such as 0xC004F050. This error equates to "The Software Licensing Service reported that the product key is invalid."

Turns out that there is some confusion to how to install KMS 1.1 although the documentation is very clear on the steps:)

When you download the KMS 1.1 update, KMSW2K3_EN-US_x86.zip https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=81D1CB89-13BD-4250-B624-2F8C57A1AE7B&displaylang=en

You get the following files

  • Key Management Service v1 1 for Windows Server 2003 Step-By-Step Guide.doc
  • KMSW2K3.exe
  • WindowsServer2003-KB948003-x86-ENU.exe

You must install the KMS 1.0 version(KMSW2K3.exe) first then install the update for 1.1(WindowsServer2003-KB948003-x86-ENU.exe). Some customers have only installed the KMS 1.0 version(KMSW2K3.exe) and not WindowsServer2003-KB948003-x86-ENU.exe which updates it to KMS 1.1. Additionally the update doesn't prompt for a restart but one may be needed

More information on installation of KMS 1.1 can be found in Key Management Service v1 1 for Windows Server 2003 Step-By-Step Guide.doc which is included with the update or in https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=948003

Scott McArthur
Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support