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