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Recently, I moved a Windows 10 Home machine from factory to a Windows 10 Enterprise by using a KMS product key. It was an emergency situation as the employee was remote and we could not procure a Windows 10 Pro machine in a reasonable amount of time.

The thought process was, convert that Windows 10 Home to Enterprise using the KMS generic key, reset Windows, and let it join the domain (before the reset I added the machine to Windows Autopilot getting the hardware ID from the Get-AutoPilot PowerShell), join the Azure AD domain, auto-provision, and then use the Windows 10 Enterprise subscription license assigned to the authenticated user.

All of this happened successfully, except for the last bit. The machine is correctly joined in the Azure AD domain, I have all policies deployed to the machine, everything as expected in an Autopilot/Intune OOBE model.

However, I cannot figure out a way to remove the KMS key and let it use the Subscription Activation feature. It always fails with the error 0x8007232B (for when it cannot find a KMS server, which we don't have, I just wanted a quick way to allow the machine to have the ability to join an Azure AD domain and use our licenses).

I have tried using the command below to remove the product key and force an activation, but it failed it with another error code, and then the KMS key showed up back in the Activation settings:

slmgr.vbs /upk

Currently, Windows is sitting on an Enterprise license with a KMS key in not activate state.

How can I force this now Windows 10 Enterprise with a generic KMS key to consider the Subscription one for activation?

ServerIsAlwaysAtFault
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According to the offical documentation, the process should be completely automatic if the user has been assigned a proper license.

Quoting from "Scenarios":

devices that are already running Windows 10 Enterprise will migrate from KMS or MAK activated Enterprise edition to Subscription activated Enterprise edition when a Subscription Activation-enabled user signs in to the device.

What you did (changing the Windows license to Enterprise KMS and then moving to subscription activation) is also explicitly supported:

To change all of your Windows 10 Pro devices to Windows 10 Enterprise, run the following command on each computer:

cscript.exe c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43

The command causes the OS to change to Windows 10 Enterprise and then seek out the KMS server to reactivate.

So it looks like your approach is viable: but the subscription activation itself is not working.

I suggest you review and confirm the requirements:

  • Windows 10 (Pro or Enterprise) version 1703 or later installed on the devices to be upgraded.
  • Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) available for identity management.
  • Devices must be Azure AD-joined or Hybrid Azure AD joined.

Also make sure that the computer account of the device in your AD domain is correctly synced to Azure AD by ADConnect.

If it still doesn't work, the article contains detailed instructions for various scenarios; if all else fails, you'll need to open a support ticket with Microsoft.

Massimo
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  • If I read correctly, he changed from Home to Enterprise. I didn't know that was possible. Maybe that has something to do with it? – Michael Hampton Dec 17 '20 at 22:55
  • Regardless of the starting state, he now has an Enterprise KMS machine which *should* be able to use subscription activation. – Massimo Dec 17 '20 at 22:57
  • The thing is, I don't have a KMS server for it go look for activation, and that's what I think it's screwing up here. I did see the documentation you mentioned, and that's also the key I'm using, but it just doesn't transition from KMS to Subscription. – ServerIsAlwaysAtFault Dec 17 '20 at 23:08
  • The documentation doesn't mention actually *having* a KMS. It only states that an Enterprise KMS edition should accept subscription activation. – Massimo Dec 17 '20 at 23:10
  • @Massimo it's explicitly saying that it does "The command causes the OS to change to Windows 10 Enterprise and **then seek out the KMS server to reactivate.**" - so I think that's what happens and the limitation of this scenario. – ServerIsAlwaysAtFault Dec 17 '20 at 23:23
  • I am starting to believe I need to activate a retail Windows 10 Pro key on that machine downgrading it from Enterprise to Pro and then it will upgrade to Enterprise as it rejoins the domain and checks for the license assigned to the user. – ServerIsAlwaysAtFault Dec 17 '20 at 23:24
  • This does indeed seem not quite clear; I'd ask Microsoft. – Massimo Dec 17 '20 at 23:55