Struggling Kidderminster had been hoping to gain a confidence boost against Port Vale as the home side had not knocked out a league team in the FA Cup since the days of John Rudge.
And an upset looked to be on the cards when Harriers subdued the 4,000 crowd after only four minutes.
Wayne Hatswell stepped up to blast a free-kick from the edge of the area past Jonathan Brain and in to the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
A shell-shocked Vale side then took the offensive, but although pacy wingers Jeff Smith and Christopher Birchall began to get involved, an equaliser would not come.
Indeed Tom Bennett almost doubled Kidderminster's lead in the 38th minute while Billy Paynter should have scored seconds later for Vale but he miskicked in front of an empty net.
Vale continued to press after the break and they were unlucky not to equalise in the 50th minute when Bennett brought down Levi Reid with a misjudged tackle inside the area.
But Ryan Clarke saved Paynter's spot-kick and Nathan Lowndes hit the post from the rebound.
However, three minutes late Vale did finally score when Ryan Brown swung a low ball in from the left, Lowndes knocked it on and Paynter smashed a ten-yard shot home.
Reid then stepped up to score his first senior goal of his career with a 30-yard shot that left Clarke for dead as it flew into the net.
Paynter made the game safe in the 65th minute after Smith crossed for the striker to grab his second goal of the match as he headed past Clarke.