What is a 0x8007232B Error?

in Windows

Error 0x8007232B is a product activation error. The normal error message should look similar to the picture below although it can look different in different version of the windows operating system.

You can get this error on almost any version of the windows operating system including Windows XP, windows 7, Server 2003, Server 2008, Vista, etc. this error can be very misleading because it has absolutely nothing to do with the DNS server. It occurs because the key management server (KMS) could not be located in your DNS server.

How to Fix a 0x8007232B Error

If you have a product key, sometimes all you need to do is enter the key again using the “change key” button if it exists in the version of the operating system you have.  If no button exists you need to perform the following steps:

Method 1

  1. Right click on All Programs, click Accessories, and then right-click Command Prompt
  2. Click Run as administrator. You may need to enter an administrator password to continue if you are not logged in as an administrator.
  3. Type  slmgr.vbs -ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx at the command line, where xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx  is the MAK product key that you have for the operating system installation. Then press Enter. The format of the product key must be exact.
  4. If the activation is successful, you will get a message similar to the one shown below although it can look different in different version of the windows operating system.

If that doesn’t work, try Method 2.

Method 2

Perform the following steps to verify that a KMS server is installed and registered in DMS:

  1. From a command prompt type:

    2. nslookup -type=all _vlmcs._tcp>kms.txt

  2. Open the KMS.txt file and check to see if it contains information similar to the following:
    3.                   _vlmcs._tcp.yourdomain.com       SRV service location:
                      priority       = 0
                      weight         = 0
                      port           = 1688
                      svr hostname   = kms-server.yourdomain.com
  3. If these “_vlmcs” entries are present, the KMS server is running and registered with the DNS server. By default, this registry key has an undefined value that results in the dynamic registration every 24 hours.
  4. At this point you should be able to login in and start using the product.
  5. If the KNS.txt file does not contain entries similar to those above, you need to notify you network administrator of the problem.

If the entries do exist and you still can’t activate your operating system or you are a home user, you will need to call Microsoft’s help desk and explain the problem. They will give you an activation code over the phone to type in that will activate the operating system.

Summary

Error 0x8007232B is caused by a problem with the KMS server not being able to register with its DNS server whether it is your company’s server or one of Microsoft’s activation servers. You can try fixing the problem yourself or, as a last resort, contact Microsoft’s help desk. If you call them be prepared to spend an hour or more on the phone, most of it will be waiting on hold.

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