Experiencing Windows Activation Errors 0x8007232b or 0x8007007B?

If you have been troubleshooting errors 0x8007232b and 0x8007007B recently then you will be very interested in a fresh knowledge base article, KB3166553, that Microsoft support published late last week.

According to Microsoft, you will see these two error codes when attempting to activate a new Windows installation on either a client or server machine.

There are three possible error messages you might see:

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Error Message 1

Activation Error: Code 0x8007232b
DNS Name does not exist

Error Message 2

Windows could not be activated.
Key management services (KMS) host could not be located in 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 3

Error: 0x8007007B
The file name, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect

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These errors are caused when you use volume-licensing to install these client/server operating systems and the activation wizard is unable to validate the install with a Key Management Service computer. It is also possible you will see one of these errors when you use a generic key that is for volume licensing situations.

Microsoft has a resolution in this knowledge base article that provides you steps using the following methods:

The support page has all of the detailed steps for each of the above options to resolve these activation errors.

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