Key Management Server (KMS) Fast Activation Walkthrough

2008-05-22T16:02:48Z

This article deals with procedures that are needed for deploying Volume Activation v2.0.

Volume Activation v2.0 activates Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems for volume licensing customers. You can choose to implement volume activations using two methods:

Key Management Service (KMS) - can be activated in any environment including secured isolated networks.
Multiple Activation Key (MAK) - online activation - must have an Internet connection.

Licensing Keys:

it's important to understand the differences between the licensing keys, usually these keys can be found under https://licensing.microsoft.com (MVLS) using your account under volume license keys section.

For the KMS server, you'll need one of the followings products keys according to the version installed:

Windows Server 2008 Std/Ent - KMS
Windows Srv 2008 Data Ctr/Itan- KMS
Windows Web Srv 2008-KMS
For KMS clients (actually, all of the other computers) including windows 2008 server and windows vista you'll need one of the corresponding keys as follows:
Windows Vista Business - YFKBB-PQJJV-G996G-VWGXY-2V3X8
Windows Vista Business N - HMBQG-8H2RH-C77VX-27R82-VMQBT
Windows Vista Enterprise - VKK3X-68KWM-X2YGT-QR4M6-4BWMV
Windows Vista Enterprise N - VTC42-BM838-43QHV-84HX6-XJXKV
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter - 7M67G-PC374-GR742-YH8V4-TCBY3
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V - 22XQ2-VRXRG-P8D42-K34TD-G3QQC
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems - 4DWFP-JF3DJ-B7DTH-78FJB-PDRHK
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise - YQGMW-MPWTJ-34KDK-48M3W-X4Q6V
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V - 39BXF-X8Q23-P2WWT-38T2F-G3FPG
Windows Server 2008 Standard - TM24T-X9RMF-VWXK6-X8JC9-BFGM2
Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V - W7VD6-7JFBR-RX26B-YKQ3Y-6FFFJ
Windows Web Server 2008 - WYR28-R7TFJ-3X2YQ-YCY4H-M249D

These keys are static and should be used for any new computer you install, if you download the product from the MVLS site, you do not need to type the key since one of these keys will automatically be used and the machine will be activated if a KMS server exists.
For any computer that is not connected to the network or will not be able to reconnect to the network within 180 days a MAK key is required for activation against the Internet.

The KMS server can run on either windows 2008, windows vista or windows 2003 with SP1 and later, however installing it on windows 2003 requires you to download the appropriate installation files for KMS v1.1 and described in the next section.

Installing the KMS server on a Windows Vista or Windows 2008 Server:

Important note, whenever a command prompt is needed make sure to run it using the run as administrator option.

To install the KMS server, type the following at the command prompt:
cscript C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk <KmsKey> (One of the keys from section one).

Before you activate the KMS host, consider the following:

To activate Windows Vista, you must have at least 25 computers running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 that are connected together; for Windows Server 2008, the minimum is 5 computers.

Computers that are activated through KMS must be reactivated every six months by connecting to your organization's network.

Activating the KMS on windows 2008 server or windows vista:

For online activation, type the following at the command prompt and then press Enter:
cscript C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato
For offline (telephone) activation, type the following at the command prompt:
slui.exe 4

the next step is to restart the Software Licensing Service using the following command:

net stop slsvc && net start slsvc

Installing the KMS server on a Windows 2003 Server:

Download Key Management Service for Windows Server 2003 from the Microsoft Download Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=82964 for x86 systems or http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83041 for x64 systems

After installing both KMS v1.0 and the patch for v1.1, install the KMS key, type the following at the command prompt, and then press Enter:
cscript C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk <KmsKey> One of the keys from section one).

Activating the KMS server on windows 2003 server:

For online activation, type the following at the command prompt and then press Enter:
cscript C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato
For offline (telephone) activation, type the following at the command prompt:
slui.exe 4

the next step is to restart the Software Licensing Service using the following command:

net stop slsvc && net start slsvc

Testing the KMS server configuration:

The KMS server should publish its SRV records in your domain DNS, it is a good thing to test that these records exists using the following command:

nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp

you should see something similar to that:

_vlmcs._tcp.domain.net SRV service location:
          priority       = 0
          weight         = 0
          port           = 1688
          svr hostname   = kmsserver.domain.net
kmsserver.domain.net    internet address = x.x.x.x

Please note that the KMS server listens on port TCP 1688, if you need to activate KMS client over a firewall, make sure to open this port as necessary.

now, just try to activate manually one of your clients or servers using the following command:

cscript C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

If you need to activate a client in an isolated network, you can assign it the KMS server's static IP address instead of using DNS using the following command:

slmgr -skms kms-ip-address

After that, don't forget to run the activation command:

cscript C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

Basically, any client will try to activate itself every 120 minutes by default, so there is no need to run the acivation command manually.

Hope this helps, if you have any comments I'd like to hear about it.

Arale.

arales

Key Management Server (KMS) Fast Activation Walkthrough