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Cannot activate Windows 10 Enterprise subscription license for Azure AD Joined device

Question

Wednesday, October 2, 2019 5:07 PM | 1 vote

Here is the current situation:

  • I have a Windows 10 Enterprise device that I cannot activate: https://imgur.com/1pqQf89
    • Error message: We can't activate Windows on this device as we can't connect to your organization's activation server. Make sure you're connected to your organization's network and try again. If you continue having problems with activation, contact your organization's support person. Error code 0x8007007B (DNS name does not exist).
  • My device is indeed Azure AD Joined, and is not Domain Joined: https://imgur.com/3NYDbzr
    • Comment: because I’m not domain-joined any more, this computer should not try to “connect to my organization’s activation server” any more, and should just reach out to the cloud for activation through Azure AD – right?
  • I do have my company's Azure AD account registered with this device: https://imgur.com/Ygtya2L
  • My device is in version 1903: https://imgur.com/hWIx3fG
  • My device does show up as being registered under my Azure AD account: https://imgur.com/Mt8AYHh
  • And lastly, my Azure AD account does have a Windows 10 Enterprise E5 license assigned to it: https://imgur.com/DknbpaY
  • Even after removing the original product key from the registry, my detailed license information says “VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel” under “Description”: https://imgur.com/Sctgfz4
    • Comment: As per this, the "Description" field should contain something like "RETAIL channel Partial Product Key " when using the Windows 10 E3 or E5 license.

All replies (8)

Thursday, November 7, 2019 11:42 PM ✅Answered | 1 vote

I ended up having to activate my computer with a valid Windows 10 Pro license key before being able to activate my Windows 10 Enterprise license.

It is not clear *at all* that buying a Windows 10 Enterprise license in Azure AD is not enough to activate a Windows license, and that additionally need to have an valid Windows 10 Pro license prior.

EDIT: to be clear, I ended up getting a retail Windows 10 Pro license and activating my computer that way (screenshot). Then, Windows 10 Enterprise activation against the Microsoft activation servers using my Azure AD-assigned license actually took hold (screenshot).

Honestly, pretty confusing experience.

EDIT2: I suppose the Windows E3/E5 license is clear in some places: "Windows 10 Enterprise E3 builds on Windows 10 Pro by delivering enterprise-grade security."

Wednesday, October 2, 2019 5:40 PM

Hello,

What edition are you running Pro or Enterprise?

You are running a volume license edition of Windows 10, thus the KMS messaging.  KMS doesn't care if you are domain joined or not.

Here is the link to docs page for subscription activation

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/windows-10-subscription-activation

You can try changing the product key back to the one that shipped with the machine.

Open an elevated CMD prompt and run:

wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey

this should show the product key that shipped with the machine, you can try changing to that product key.

From the elevated CMD prompt run

SLMGR.vbs /IPK xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx 

Thanks, Darrell Gorter [MSFT] This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Thursday, October 3, 2019 2:50 AM

Hi Charlie, 

Does the issue occur on all Windows 10 devices or just occur on specific computer?

Please ping KMS host server on client machine to check the connection condition.

Please check if client machine using same port as KMS host server. By default the port should be 1688.

Please check if the issue persists after run command line "slmgr /ato" and "slmgr /rearm" as administrator to activate client manually.

As the error code is 0x8007007B (DNS name does not exist). Please refer the following link to pay more attention to troubleshoot DNS issue.

Common troubleshooting procedures for KMS and DNS issues

Bests, 

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Thursday, October 3, 2019 9:29 PM

Thank you very much Darrell for your response.

Changing the product key of the device did not work, with the error message "The Software Licensing Service reported that the product SKU was not found": https://i.imgur.com/ZB6GEps.png

Now, you state that I am running a "volume license edition" of Windows 10. I am running an (as of yet unlicensed) instance of Windows 10 Enterprise, and I want to activate it using the Windows 10 Enterprise E5 license. I do not want to use any KMS servers, because:

  • I am using Windows 10 Enterprise E5 licenses, which should activate against Microsoft cloud servers
  • I am using Windows 10 Enterprise E5 licenses - I do not have an additional volume license available through some on-premises KMS server.

Is there a way to "switch" my "volume license edition" to instead use subscription activation, so I can use my Windows 10 Enterprise E5 license?

Thursday, October 3, 2019 9:32 PM

Thank you very much for your response Joy-Qiao.

I understand that I cannot reach my organization's KMS servers: my computer is not domain-joined or on the corporate network. However, this should not matter, because:

  • I am using Windows 10 Enterprise E5 licenses, which should activate against Microsoft cloud servers, not against my on-premises KMS server
  • I am using Windows 10 Enterprise E5 licenses, which should be sufficient - I do not have an additional volume license available through my org's KMS server.

Any way that I can still activate my Windows 10 instance by leveraging my cloud-based Win10 Enterprise E5 license, and not having to rely on connecting to my org's KMS servers?

Friday, October 4, 2019 2:51 AM

Hi Charlie, 

Did you logon system with AAD joined account?

I noticed you also have issue about activate E5 subscription, as I found the screen should show as below if activate subscription with problem.

So I suspect you might not connection with your subscription. But for a professional troubleshooting, I recommend to ask for help from AzureAD support. 

For activate Windows issue, please notice the high light part in your capture.

As the high light part, seems that your computer also a KMS client, try to run command line tool slmgr as I replied before to reactivate system.

But as your issue more related with Azure AD, contact with AAD support might be a proper idea. 

Azure Activate Directory:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/azure/en-US/home?forum=windowsazureaditpro

Bests,

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Tuesday, October 8, 2019 8:00 AM

Hi Charlie,

Haven't received your message a few days, was your issue resolved?
I am proposing previous helpful replies as "Answered". Please feel free to try it and let me know the result. If the reply is helpful, please remember to mark it as answer which can help other community members who have same questions and find the helpful reply quickly.

 

Best regards,

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Friday, November 8, 2019 1:34 AM

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback. 

Yes, if you are using Windows 10 E3 or E5 license, Windows 10 professional key should be activated at first. 

For more information, please see: Windows 10 Subscription Activation

At last, thank you you for your sharing, it would be useful for other customers. 

Bests, 

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