About to setup KMS server for Volume activation

kmslicensingwindows 7windows-server-2008-r2

I have searched and searched for any hints of how i should setup our KMS server for our coming installations of 2008(r2) servers and win7 clients. No luck, so here I am.

We've got around 20 developers switching to windows 7(about 50-80 more boxes when all apps are completely tested), and were using MAK keys at the moment, we got about 50-60 virtual servers(2003) for our test/demo environment that we could switch to 2008r2 without much fuss(data center licenses ftw).

My wish is for 1 server to handle all the KMS licenses, is it possible?
We got bunches of 1srver 2008 KMS licenses, 4 Data center licenses, and 1 kms key with 150 client licenses for win7.

Best Answer

My wish is for 1 server to handle all the KMS licenses, is it possible?

Yes, but remember to backup/plan for replacing it.

KMS is a separate download (e.g. here for Server 2008). The download pages contain technet links (and technet search gives a lot of links as well).

Related Solutions

Why won’t the Windows 7 KMS key work on the Server 2008 KMS server

As it turns out, the version of the KMS software included with Server 2008 is version 1.1. In order to use Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 KMS keys, you need to be running KMS 1.2. KMS 1.2 is included as part of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, but requires a separate download to run on Server 2008 (non-R2) or Server 2003.

I found the answer and more info on Microsoft's site: FAQ About Volume License Keys

KB article 968915 is now available and contains links to download KMS 1.2 for Windows 2003 Server. Here are direct links for x86 and x64.

KB article 968912 is now available and contains links to download KMS 1.2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008. Here are some direct links for Server 2008 (x86, x64, ia64) and Vista (x86 and x64).

Windows 7 activation problems using KMS

You say the CMIDs should be fine, but you haven't actually verified them. You need to find out whether all of the machines really do have unique CMIDs or not.

The KB article tells you to run slmgr.vbs -dli on the clients. And you say the output wasn't displaying the CMID. Did you actually run the command on the client workstations? Or did you accidentally run in on your KMS server instead? Running slmgr.vbs –dli on the KMS server won't show a "Client Machine ID" because it's not a client. So make sure you run the command on your clients and then compare the CMIDs to make sure they're not identical.

For instance, on my sample Win7 box, I get the following output from slmgr.vbs -dli:

Name: Windows(R) 7, Enterprise edition
Description: Windows Operating System - Windows(R) 7, VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel
Partial Product Key: XXXX
License Status: Licensed
Volume activation expiration: 247500 minute(s) (171 day(s))

Key Management Service client information
    Client Machine ID (CMID): 12910304-af39-4fc9-80df-f8c61526d9f9
    Registered KMS machine name: mykms.mydomain.com:1688
    KMS machine extended PID: 55041-00168-305-100667-03-1033-6002.0000-2372009
    Activation interval: 120 minutes
    Renewal interval: 10080 minutes
    KMS host caching is enabled

So the CMID on that machine is 12910304-af39-4fc9-80df-f8c61526d9f9.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Why won’t the Windows 7 KMS key work on the Server 2008 KMS server

Windows 7 activation problems using KMS

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