Microsoft Confirms November Windows Updates Break Activation, Licensing and Printing Functions
Microsoft has confirmed that its November cumulative updates are disrupting core activation and licensing functions across multiple Windows versions.
The problems center on the Software Licensing Management Tool (SLMGR), which now returns error 0x80041008 “Invalid parameter (SWbemObjectEx)” for several common commands. Affected operations include slmgr.vbs /skms-domain and slmgr.vbs /ipk, blocking product activation, KMS server setup, and product-key changes.
The regressions impact Windows 11 23H2, Windows 10 22H2, Windows 10 21H2, Windows Server 2025, Windows Server 2022, and Windows Server 2019. Organizations that manage licenses through scripts or automated processes are most severely affected.
Microsoft said an official fix will be issued within days. Enterprise customers requiring an immediate workaround have been directed to contact Microsoft business support.
In addition to the licensing failures, the same November updates prevent printing of documents containing images with zero height or width. Such invisible objects are frequently used for watermarks and can be inserted by document-creation applications. The printing issue has been observed in Microsoft Word and may affect other programs.
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