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vlmcsd/vlmcsd.7.unix.txt

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VLMCSD(7) KMS Activation Manual VLMCSD(7)
NAME
vlmcsd - a guide to KMS activation using vlmcsd
SYNOPSIS
vlmcsd [ options ]
DESCRIPTION
This manual describes the concepts of Microsoft KMS activation using
vlmcsd. For detailed usage of vlmcsd see vlmcsd(8).
What is KMS?
KMS is a way to activate Microsoft products that was designed for
medium and large businesses. In a standard SOHO environment you enter a
product key during installation and then activate your product over the
Internet. This is done by sending a request to a server at micro
soft.com which then either grants or refuses activation.
By entering a special key called General Volume License Key (GVLK),
a.k.a "KMS client key", the product no longer asks the Microsoft server
for activation but a user-defined server (called the KMS server) which
usually resides in a company's intranet. vlmcsd is an independent open
source implementation of a KMS server that is available for everyone
while Microsoft gives their KMS server only to corporations that signed
a so called "Select contract". In addition vlmcsd never refuses activa
tion while the Microsoft KMS server only activates the products the
customer has paid for.
Product activation using vlmcsd is performed in three easy steps:
1) Run vlmcsd (or any other KMS emulator) on a computer in your net
work. This will be your KMS server. New users should simply run the
program without any parameters. The defaults should fit the needs of
most users.
2) Install your product and enter the GVLK when you are asked for a key
3) Configure your client (the machine where you installed your product)
to use your KMS server.
However, when it comes to the details, some things turn out to be more
difficult than you might think.
The most important thing to know is that KMS activation is not perma
nent. The computer remains activated for 180 days (30 or 45 days with
consumer-only products). KMS activation however is not an evaluation
license. You can repeat the activation anytime and as often as you like
to extend activation to another 180 days. This normally happens auto
matically. For this to work, you have to ensure that a KMS server is
always reachable for the clients on your network.
Beginning with Windows 8.1 the KMS server must be a different computer
than the client. You cannot use vlmcsd on the same computer where you
want to activate a product. If you have only one computer, you can run
vlmcsd in a virtual machine. vlmcsd is also designed to run on "always-
on devices", for example a router. The router becomes your KMS server
then.
How to get a GVLK?
That is relatively simple. The GVLKs are published on Microsoft's Tech
net web site.
Windows: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx
Office 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/ee624355(v=office.14).aspx#section2_3
Office 2013: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn385360.aspx
These lists only include products that Microsoft sells to corporations
via volume license contracts. For Windows there are inofficial GVLKs
that work with consumer-only versions of Windows. Here is a list:
789NJ-TQK6T-6XTH8-J39CJ-J8D3P - Windows 8.1 Professional with Media
Center
M9Q9P-WNJJT-6PXPY-DWX8H-6XWKK - Windows 8.1 Core
7B9N3-D94CG-YTVHR-QBPX3-RJP64 - Windows 8.1 Core N
BB6NG-PQ82V-VRDPW-8XVD2-V8P66 - Windows 8.1 Core Single Language
NCTT7-2RGK8-WMHRF-RY7YQ-JTXG3 - Windows 8.1 Core Country Specific
GNBB8-YVD74-QJHX6-27H4K-8QHDG - Windows 8 Professional with Media Cen
ter
BN3D2-R7TKB-3YPBD-8DRP2-27GG4 - Windows 8 Core
8N2M2-HWPGY-7PGT9-HGDD8-GVGGY - Windows 8 Core N
2WN2H-YGCQR-KFX6K-CD6TF-84YXQ - Windows 8 Core Single Language
4K36P-JN4VD-GDC6V-KDT89-DYFKP - Windows 8 Core Country Specific
The above keys require activation renewal every 45 days (Win 8.1) or 30
days (Win 8). All GVLKs from the Microsoft Technet web site require
renewal every 180 days.
What are SLMGR and OSPP and how to use them?
You will need these utilities later. So please continue reading this
section.
These are two Visual Basic script utilities that are used to control
Microsoft's Software Protection system. To use them open a Windows Com
mand Prompt. slmgr.vbs is for Windows. ospp.vbs is for Office 2010 and
2013. These utilities are installed with Windows and Office and you
don't need to download them.
slmgr.vbs resides in the system32 directory. So you just have to type
"slmgr" in the Windows Command prompt to use it. To use ospp.vbs you'll
have to change the current directory to your Office installation. This
is usually something like "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14".
You may type "slmgr" or "cscript ospp.vbs" without parameters to see
help for these commands but this produces some rather confusing output
for newbies.
How to get the GVLK into the product?
Normally every product asks you to enter a key during installation. At
this time simply enter the GVLK. If you skipped this step or entered
some other key which later turned out to be non-working, you can use
"slmgr /ipk GVLK" (Windows) or "cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:GVLK" (Office)
at any time.
Examples
slmgr /ipk GCRJD-8NW9H-F2CDX-CCM8D-9D6T9
cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:YC7DK-G2NP3-2QQC3-J6H88-GVGXT
Why doesn't Office accpet a GVLK?
You'll have to install a volume license (VL) version of Office. Office
versions downloaded from MSDN and/or Technet are non-VL.
How to configure a client to use a KMS server?
After you have installed a GVLK you can set your product to use your
KMS server. vlmcsd or another KMS server must already be running on
your server machine.
Windows
Type "slmgr /skms kms-server[:tcp-port]". Example:
"slmgr /skms 192.168.1.17:1688"
Office
1) Type "cscript ospp.vbs /sethst:kms-server". Example "cscript
ospp.vbs /sethst:192.168.1.17"
2) Type "cscript ospp.vbs /setprt:tcp-port". Example: cscript
ospp.vbs /setprt:1688
tcp-port is usually 1688 unless you instructed vlmcsd to use a differ
ent port which is rarely necessary.
How to activate my product?
If you have installed a product with GVLK and pointed it to working KMS
server like vlmcsd, activation occurs automatically. This may take a
while.
You may type
slmgr /ato
-or-
cscript ospp.vbs /act
at any time to speed up that process. You may repeat these commands
later to extend your activation for another 180 (45) days.
Does vlmcsd work correctly?
If something does not work, it may have the cause that vlmcsd does not
work correctly although this is unlikely. You can test this with the
KMS client vlmcs(1). First type "vlmcs" on the same machine where you
started vlmcsd. If things are ok, you should see something like this:
Connecting to 127.0.0.1:1688 ... successful
Sending activation request (KMS V4) 1 of 1 ->
06401-00206-296-206344-03-5179-9600.0000-3432013
If anything goes wrong, you'll see an error message. Next try "vlmcs
kms-server" from another machine where kms-server is the hostname or IP
address of your KMS server. If that fails while it works locally,
you'll most likely have to configure your firewall that it accepts
incoming connections on TCP port 1688.
Is there an easier way than using OSPP and SLMGR?
Yes and no. KMS activation was designed for large corporations. Thus
Microsoft designed KMS in a way that corporations can configure their
network infrastructure to fully automate KMS activation. Since this
involves DHCP and DNS, it is not that easy to accomplish that for home
users. However, if you are using an open source router firmware like
OpenWRT or DD-WRT, it is easy to customize DHCP and DNS.
1) Configure DHCP that it assigns a DNS domain name to your clients (if
it doesn't already), e.g. my-home-net.local
2) Create zone my-home-net.local in your DNS server (if it doesn't
exist already).
3) Add the following records to your DNS
_vlmcs._tcp.my-home-net.local. 10800 IN SRV 100 100 kms1.my-home-
net.local.
kms1.my-home-net.local. 10800 IN A 192.168.1.17
Replace 192.168.1.17 with the IP address of your KMS server. If you
don't like a cache time of 10800 seconds (3 hours), replace it with
another number.
This causes that clients will find the KMS server automatically.
AUTHOR
This manual page was written by Hotbird64.
SEE ALSO
vlmcsd(8), vlmcs(1)
Hotbird64 June 2014 VLMCSD(7)