1 VLMCSD(7) KMS Activation Manual VLMCSD(7)
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6 vlmcsd - a guide to KMS activation using vlmcsd
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14 This manual describes the concepts of Microsoft KMS activation using
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15 vlmcsd. For detailed usage of vlmcsd see vlmcsd(8).
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19 KMS is a way to activate Microsoft products that was designed for
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20 medium and large businesses. In a standard SOHO environment you enter a
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21 product key during installation and then activate your product over the
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22 Internet. This is done by sending a request to a server at micro‐
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23 soft.com which then either grants or refuses activation.
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25 By entering a special key called General Volume License Key (GVLK),
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26 a.k.a "KMS client key", the product no longer asks the Microsoft server
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27 for activation but a user-defined server (called the KMS server) which
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28 usually resides in a company's intranet. vlmcsd is an independent open
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29 source implementation of a KMS server that is available for everyone
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30 while Microsoft gives their KMS server only to corporations that signed
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31 a so called "Select contract". In addition vlmcsd never refuses activa‐
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32 tion while the Microsoft KMS server only activates the products the
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33 customer has paid for.
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35 Product activation using vlmcsd is performed in three easy steps:
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37 1) Run vlmcsd (or any other KMS emulator) on a computer in your net‐
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38 work. This will be your KMS server. New users should simply run the
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39 program without any parameters. The defaults should fit the needs of
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42 2) Install your product and enter the GVLK when you are asked for a key
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44 3) Configure your client (the machine where you installed your product)
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45 to use your KMS server.
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47 However, when it comes to the details, some things turn out to be more
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48 difficult than you might think.
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50 The most important thing to know is that KMS activation is not perma‐
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51 nent. The computer remains activated for 180 days (30 or 45 days with
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52 consumer-only products). KMS activation however is not an evaluation
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53 license. You can repeat the activation anytime and as often as you like
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54 to extend activation to another 180 days. This normally happens auto‐
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55 matically. For this to work, you have to ensure that a KMS server is
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56 always reachable for the clients on your network.
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58 Beginning with Windows 8.1 the KMS server must be a different computer
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59 than the client. You cannot use vlmcsd on the same computer where you
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60 want to activate a product. If you have only one computer, you can run
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61 vlmcsd in a virtual machine. vlmcsd is also designed to run on "always-
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62 on devices", for example a router. The router becomes your KMS server
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67 That is relatively simple. The GVLKs are published on Microsoft's Tech‐
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70 Windows: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx
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71 Office 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-
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72 us/library/ee624355(v=office.14).aspx#section2_3
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73 Office 2013: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn385360.aspx
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75 These lists only include products that Microsoft sells to corporations
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76 via volume license contracts. For Windows there are inofficial GVLKs
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77 that work with consumer-only versions of Windows. Here is a list:
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79 TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99 - Windows 10 Home
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80 3KHY7-WNT83-DGQKR-F7HPR-844BM - Windows 10 Home N
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81 7HNRX-D7KGG-3K4RQ-4WPJ4-YTDFH - Windows 10 Home Single Language
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82 PVMJN-6DFY6-9CCP6-7BKTT-D3WVR - Windows 10 Home Country Specific
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83 789NJ-TQK6T-6XTH8-J39CJ-J8D3P - Windows 8.1 Professional with Media
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85 M9Q9P-WNJJT-6PXPY-DWX8H-6XWKK - Windows 8.1 Core
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86 7B9N3-D94CG-YTVHR-QBPX3-RJP64 - Windows 8.1 Core N
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87 BB6NG-PQ82V-VRDPW-8XVD2-V8P66 - Windows 8.1 Core Single Language
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88 NCTT7-2RGK8-WMHRF-RY7YQ-JTXG3 - Windows 8.1 Core Country Specific
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89 GNBB8-YVD74-QJHX6-27H4K-8QHDG - Windows 8 Professional with Media Cen‐
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91 BN3D2-R7TKB-3YPBD-8DRP2-27GG4 - Windows 8 Core
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92 8N2M2-HWPGY-7PGT9-HGDD8-GVGGY - Windows 8 Core N
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93 2WN2H-YGCQR-KFX6K-CD6TF-84YXQ - Windows 8 Core Single Language
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94 4K36P-JN4VD-GDC6V-KDT89-DYFKP - Windows 8 Core Country Specific
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96 The above keys require activation renewal every 45 days (Win 8.1) or 30
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97 days (Win 8). All GVLKs from the Microsoft Technet web site require
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98 renewal every 180 days.
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101 What are SLMGR and OSPP and how to use them?
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102 You will need these utilities later. So please continue reading this
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105 These are two Visual Basic script utilities that are used to control
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106 Microsoft's Software Protection system. To use them open a Windows Com‐
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107 mand Prompt. slmgr.vbs is for Windows. ospp.vbs is for Office 2010 and
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108 2013. These utilities are installed with Windows and Office and you
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109 don't need to download them.
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111 slmgr.vbs resides in the system32 directory. So you just have to type
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112 "slmgr" in the Windows Command prompt to use it. To use ospp.vbs you'll
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113 have to change the current directory to your Office installation. This
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114 is usually something like "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14".
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115 You may type "slmgr" or "cscript ospp.vbs" without parameters to see
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116 help for these commands but this produces some rather confusing output
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120 How to get the GVLK into the product?
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121 Normally every product asks you to enter a key during installation. At
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122 this time simply enter the GVLK. If you skipped this step or entered
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123 some other key which later turned out to be non-working, you can use
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124 "slmgr /ipk GVLK" (Windows) or "cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:GVLK" (Office)
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128 slmgr /ipk GCRJD-8NW9H-F2CDX-CCM8D-9D6T9
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129 cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:YC7DK-G2NP3-2QQC3-J6H88-GVGXT
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132 Why doesn't Office accpet a GVLK?
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133 You'll have to install a volume license (VL) version of Office. Office
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134 versions downloaded from MSDN and/or Technet are non-VL.
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137 How to configure a client to use a KMS server?
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138 After you have installed a GVLK you can set your product to use your
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139 KMS server. vlmcsd or another KMS server must already be running on
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140 your server machine.
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144 Type "slmgr /skms kms-server[:tcp-port]". Example:
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145 "slmgr /skms 192.168.1.17:1688"
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150 1) Type "cscript ospp.vbs /sethst:kms-server". Example "cscript
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151 ospp.vbs /sethst:192.168.1.17"
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153 2) Type "cscript ospp.vbs /setprt:tcp-port". Example: cscript
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154 ospp.vbs /setprt:1688
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156 tcp-port is usually 1688 unless you instructed vlmcsd to use a differ‐
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157 ent port which is rarely necessary.
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160 How to activate my product?
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161 If you have installed a product with GVLK and pointed it to working KMS
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162 server like vlmcsd, activation occurs automatically. This may take a
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168 cscript ospp.vbs /act
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170 at any time to speed up that process. You may repeat these commands
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171 later to extend your activation for another 180 (45) days.
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174 Does vlmcsd work correctly?
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175 If something does not work, it may have the cause that vlmcsd does not
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176 work correctly although this is unlikely. You can test this with the
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177 KMS client vlmcs(1). First type "vlmcs" on the same machine where you
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178 started vlmcsd. If things are ok, you should see something like this:
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180 Connecting to 127.0.0.1:1688 ... successful
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181 Sending activation request (KMS V4) 1 of 1 ->
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182 06401-00206-296-206344-03-5179-9600.0000-3432013
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184 If anything goes wrong, you'll see an error message. Next try "vlmcs
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185 kms-server" from another machine where kms-server is the hostname or IP
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186 address of your KMS server. If that fails while it works locally,
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187 you'll most likely have to configure your firewall that it accepts
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188 incoming connections on TCP port 1688.
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191 Is there an easier way than using OSPP and SLMGR?
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192 Yes and no. KMS activation was designed for large corporations. Thus
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193 Microsoft designed KMS in a way that corporations can configure their
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194 network infrastructure to fully automate KMS activation. Since this
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195 involves DHCP and DNS, it is not that easy to accomplish that for home
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196 users. However, if you are using an open source router firmware like
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197 OpenWRT or DD-WRT, it is easy to customize DHCP and DNS.
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199 1) Configure DHCP that it assigns a DNS domain name to your clients (if
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200 it doesn't already), e.g. my-home-net.local
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202 2) Create zone my-home-net.local in your DNS server (if it doesn't
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205 3) Add the following records to your DNS
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207 _vlmcs._tcp.my-home-net.local. 10800 IN SRV 100 100 kms1.my-home-
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209 kms1.my-home-net.local. 10800 IN A 192.168.1.17
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211 Replace 192.168.1.17 with the IP address of your KMS server. If you
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212 don't like a cache time of 10800 seconds (3 hours), replace it with
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215 This causes that clients will find the KMS server automatically.
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219 This manual page was written by Hotbird64.
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222 vlmcsd(8), vlmcs(1)
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226 Hotbird64 March 2016 VLMCSD(7)
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