Thursday, July 01, 2010

Microsoft KMS Host

Recently I have to setup KMS server to activate Windows 2008/R2 and Windows 7 on our network.

Here are some necessary steps/tricks:


  • If a Windows was activated with KMS key, it will automatically become a KMS host
  • Depending on the KMS host OS and the KMS group key entered, different KMS clients can be activated through this KMS host
  • KMS group key C is the highest you can enter which basically can activate all Windows 2008/R2, Vista, and Windows 7 with any edition
  • To enter KMS key, run cmd prompt in escalated mode and do:
slmgr.vbs /ipk

  • To activate KMS host, do:
slmgr.vbs /ato

  • Once KMS host has been activated, check DNS entry for _VLMCS SRV record that points to this KMS host
  • To check how many KMS client has been trying to activate themselves through KMS host, do:
slmgr.vbs /dli

  • Now all the KMS clients (Volume License Key) should by default try to activate through KMS host
  • If you accidentally entered a KMS key to a KMS client, you can de-activate the KMS client by entering the "client type" key. Client type key depends on the Windows version, check on the following link
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303280.aspx
  • Once you have the client type key, enter it and activate it:
slmgr.vbs /ipk
slmgr.vbs /ato

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