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VAMT: Invalid product Name & Product Key Type

Steve 41 Reputation points
2022-10-17T07:36:06.793+00:00

We have had a windws 2008R2 KMS server for 15+ years. Recent years almost forgot about it
Enterprise 21H1 edition is installed on the Windows 10 clients.
Last week we installed/configured KMS on 1 of our windows 2016 domain controllers.
What I saw is 95% of machines display wrong Product Name and Product Key Type VAMT:
251021-vamt.jpg
Windows Pro instead of Windows Enterprise, and Key Type Retail instead of GVLK

My theory is that the old windows 2008R2 KMS server can't license the recent windows 10 editions.
You would then expect the clients to generate a notification.
But instead they go over to the embedded Retail key in the firmware.. (that's my theory) Is this correct?

Not a problem in itself.
Select the machines in VAMT and distribute the GVLK product key
Then activate.
Key type is now correct, but Windows Pro Edition does not change to Enterprise in VAMT
250938-vamt1.jpg
Can this be solved in one way or another in KMS/VAMT? I don't think this affects the machines, but cosmetically that would of course be more manageable

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  1. Hania Lian 11,121 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2022-10-18T07:40:22.943+00:00

    Hi.
    Your KMS host is Windows 2008R2, which is a bit old. Deploying Windows 10 clients using Windows 2008R2 may require patching.
    Is there any update to your KMS host? If there is a try to update.
    Hope the information is helpful.

    ============================================

    If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

  2. Steve 41 Reputation points
    2022-10-20T08:03:05.317+00:00

    Hi HaniaLian,

    We are going to phase out the windows 2008 R2 (KMS) server
    The last time I viewed this server was years ago.

    Recently we installed KMS on a windows 2016 domain controller.
    I have VAMT installed.
    We have approximately 600 Windows 10 Enterprise 21H2 workstations.
    Have been using SCCM for years for OS deployment
    Checking OS details on the client we see the Enterprise edition listed

    But in VAMT or via the slmgr command I see the following on 95% of the workstations:
    252353-retail.jpg
    I can adjust this via VAMT or with the commands below:
    slmgr.vbs /upk
    slmgr.vbs /ipk NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43
    slmgr.vbs /skms <FQDN KMS server>
    slmgr.vbs /ato

    And that goes well. I get to see Enterpise edition and GVLK via VAMT or slmgr.
    252365-gvlk.jpg
    But when I check the data after ±2 hours, it has changed back to Professional and Retail

    Weird. What am I overlooking?
    How can it change from GVLK to retail?
    Where does slmgr get the info from? The registry?

    Thank you

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  3. Steve 41 Reputation points
    2022-10-21T11:16:53.21+00:00

    I've been looking into it and I think it has to do with "Firmware-embedded activation key"
    With the command below you can find out the Firmware-embedded activation key
    (Get-CimInstance -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey

    If I interpret several articles correctly, I cannot overwrite the Firmware-embedded activation key with a GVLK. Is this correct?
    https://www.reddit.com/r/MDT/comments/wg8ra1/productkeyoverrideproductkey_vs_bios_embedded/
    https://superuser.com/questions/1724119/what-is-the-activation-status-of-windows-10-pre-installed-on-a-pc-that-is-never

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