1 VLMCSD.INI(5) KMS Activation Manual VLMCSD.INI(5)
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6 vlmcsd.ini - vlmcsd KMS emulator configuration file
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14 vlmcsd.ini (or simply called the "ini file") is a configuration file
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15 for vlmcsd(8). By default vlmcsd does not use a configuration file. It
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16 is completely optional and for advanced users only. You must use the -i
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17 option on the vlmcsd command line to use an ini file. There is no
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18 default name or default location for the ini file.
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20 Everything, that can be configured in the ini file, may also be speci‐
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21 fied on the command line. Any configuration option specified on the
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22 command line takes precedence over the respective configuration line in
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25 Benefits of a configuration file
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27 While you can use the configuration file to simply modify the default
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28 behavior of vlmcsd, it can also be used to change the configuration of
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29 vlmcsd after you sent a HUP signal(7). Whenever you send SIGHUP, the
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30 configuration file will be re-read. Any changes you made to the ini
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31 file will be reflected after vlmcsd received the hangup signal.
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33 Differences between command line and configuration file
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35 If you specify an illegal option or option argument on the command
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36 line, vlmcsd displays help and exits. If you specify an incorrect key‐
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37 word or argument in the ini file, vlmcsd displays a warning with some
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38 information, ignores the respective line and continues. This is inten‐
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39 tional and prevents vlmcsd from aborting after a SIGHUP if the configu‐
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40 ration was modified incorrectly.
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44 vlmcsd.ini is a UTF-8 encoded text file with each line being in the
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45 format keyword = argument. The keyword is not case-sensitive. The argu‐
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46 ment is treated literally. It is neither required nor allowed to
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47 enclose the argument in any form of quote characters except when quote
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48 characters are part of the argument itself. Whitespace characters are
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51 - at the beginning of a line
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52 - between the keyword and '='
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53 - between '=' and the argument
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55 Lines, that start with '#' or ';' are treated as comments. Empty lines
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56 are ignored as well. If a keyword is repeated in another line, vlmcsd
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57 will use the argument of the last occurence of the keyword. An excep‐
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58 tion to this is the Listen keyword which can be specified multiple
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59 times and causes vlmcsd to listen on more than one IP address and/or
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62 Some arguments are binary arguments that need to be either TRUE or
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63 FALSE. You can use "Yes", "On" or "1" as an alias for TRUE and "No",
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64 "Off" or "0" as an alias for FALSE. Binary arguments are case-insensi‐
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69 The following keywords are defined (not all keywords may be available
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70 depending on the operating system and the options used when vlmcsd(8)
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74 Listen This defines on what combinations of IP addresses and ports vlm‐
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75 csd should listen. Listen can be specified more than once. The
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76 argument has the form ipaddress[:port]. If you omit the port,
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77 the default port of 1688 is used. If the ipaddress contains
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78 colons and a port is used, you must enclose the ipaddress in
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79 brackets. The default is to listen to 0.0.0.0:1688 and [::]:1688
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80 which means listen to all IPv4 and all IPv6 addresses. See the
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81 -L option in vlmcsd(8) for more info about the syntax. If you
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82 use -L or -P on the command line, all Listen keywords in the ini
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83 file will be ignored. The Listen keyword cannot be used if vlm‐
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84 csd has been compiled to use Microsoft RPC (Windows and Cygwin
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85 only) or simple sockets.
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89 Listen = 192.168.1.123:1688
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90 Listen = 0.0.0.0:1234
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91 Listen = [fe80::1721:12ff:fe81:d36b%eth0]:1688
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94 Port Can only be used if vlmcsd has been compiled to use simple sock‐
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95 ets or on Windows and Cygwin if vlmcsd(8) has been compiled to
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96 use Microsoft RPC. Otherwise you must use Listen instead. Causes
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97 vlmcsd to listen on that port instead of 1688.
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101 Can be TRUE or FALSE. If TRUE, you can use the Listen keyword
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102 with IP addresses that are currently not defined on your system.
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103 vlmcsd(8) will start listening on these IP addresses as soon as
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104 they become available. This keyword is only available under
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105 Linux and FreeBSD because no other OS currently supports that
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106 feature. FreeBSD supports this only for IPv4 and requires the
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107 PRIV_NETINET_BINDANY privilege which is normally assigned to
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108 proccesses of the root user.
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111 PublicIPProtectionLevel
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112 Set the level of protection against KMS activations from public
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115 0 = No protection (default)
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116 1 = Listen on private IP addresses only (plus those specified by
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117 one or more Listen statements)
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118 2 = Disconnect clients with public IP addresses without activat‐
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120 3 = Combines 1 and 2
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122 For details on public IP protection levels see vlmcsd(8) command
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127 Can be TRUE or FALSE. Specifies whether you want to use the
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128 NDR64 transfer syntax. See options -n0 and -n1 in vlmcsd(8). The
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133 Can be TRUE or FALSE. Specifies whether you want to use bind
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134 time feature negotiation in RPC. See options -b0 and -b1 in vlm‐
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135 csd(8). The default is TRUE.
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139 The argument must 0, 1 or 2. This specifies the ePID randomiza‐
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140 tion level. See options -r0, -r1 and -r2 in vlmcsd(8). The
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141 default randomization level is 1. A RandomizationLevel of 2 is
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142 not recommended and should be treated as a debugging level.
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145 LCID Use a specific culture id (LCID) even if the ePID is randomized.
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146 The argument must be a number between 1 and 32767. While any
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147 number in that range is valid, you should use an offcial LCID. A
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148 list of assigned LCIDs can be found at http://msdn.micro‐
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149 soft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964664.aspx. On the command line you
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150 control this setting with option -C.
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154 The argument specifies the maximum number of worker processes or
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155 threads that will be used to serve activation requests concur‐
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156 rently. This is the same as specifying -m on the command line.
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157 Minimum is 1. The maximum is platform specific and is at least
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158 32767 but is likely to be greater on most systems. The default
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163 Used to control when the vlmcsd disconnects idle TPC connec‐
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164 tions. The default is 30 seconds. This is the same setting as -t
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165 on the command line.
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168 DisconnectClientsImmediately
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169 Set this to TRUE to disconnect a client after it got an activa‐
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170 tion response regardless whether a timeout has occured or not.
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171 The default is FALSE. Setting this to TRUE is non-standard
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172 behavior. Use only if you are experiencing DoS or DDoS attacks.
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173 On the command line you control this behavior with options -d
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178 Write a pid file. The argument is the full pathname of a pid
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179 file. The pid file contains is single line containing the
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180 process id of the vlmcsd process. It can be used to stop
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181 (SIGTERM) or restart (SIGHUP) vlmcsd. This directive can be
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182 overriden using -p on the command line.
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186 Write a log file. The argument is the full pathname of a log
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187 file. On a unixoid OS and with Cygwin you can use the special
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188 filename 'syslog' to log to the syslog facility. This is the
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189 same as specifying -l on the command line.
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193 Can be TRUE or FALSE. The default is TRUE. If set to FALSE, log‐
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194 ging output does not include date and time. This is useful if
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195 you log to stdout(3) which is redirected to another logging
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196 mechanism that already includes date and time in its output, for
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197 instance systemd-journald(8). If you log to syslog(3), LogDate‐
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198 AndTime is ignored and date and time will never be included in
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199 the output sent to syslog(3). Using the command line you control
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200 this setting with options -T0 and -T1.
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204 Set this to either TRUE or FALSE. The default is FALSE. If set
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205 to TRUE, more details of each activation will be logged. You use
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206 -v and -q in the command line to control this setting. LogVer‐
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207 bose has an effect only if you specify a log file or redirect
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208 logging to stdout(3).
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212 Can be 0, 1, 2 or 3. The default is 0. Sets the whitelisting
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213 level to determine which products vlmcsd activates or refuses.
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215 0: activate all products with an unknown, retail or
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216 beta/preview KMS ID.
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217 1: activate products with a retail or beta/preview KMS ID
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218 but refuse to activate products with an unknown KMS ID.
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219 2: activate products with an unknown KMS ID but refuse
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220 products with a retail or beta/preview KMS ID.
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221 3: activate only products with a known volume license RTM
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222 KMS ID and refuse all others.
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225 The SKU ID is not checked. Like a genuine KMS server vlmcsd
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226 activates a product that has a random or unknown SKU ID. If you
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227 select 1 or 3, vlmcsd also checks the Application ID for cor‐
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228 rectness. If Microsoft introduces a new KMS ID for a new prod‐
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229 uct, you cannot activate it if you used 1 or 3 until a new ver‐
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230 sion of vlmcsd is available.
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234 Can be TRUE or FALSE. The default is FALSE. If you set this to
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235 TRUE vlmcsd(8) checks if the client time differs no more than
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236 four hours from the system time. This is useful to prevent emu‐
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237 lator detection. A client that tries to detect an emulator could
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238 simply send two subsequent request with two time stamps that
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239 differ more than four hours from each other. If both requests
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240 succeed, the server is an emulator. If you set this to TRUE on a
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241 system with no reliable time source, activations will fail. It
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242 is ok to set the correct system time after you started vlm‐
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247 Can be TRUE or FALSE (the default). Disables (FALSE) or enables
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248 (TRUE) maintaining a list of client machine IDs (CMIDs). TRUE is
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249 useful to prevent emulator detection. By maintaing a CMID list,
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250 vlmcsd(8) reports current active clients exactly like a genuine
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251 KMS emulator. This includes bug compatibility to the extent that
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252 you can permanently kill a genuine KMS emulator by sending an
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253 "overcharge request" with a required client count of 376 or more
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254 and then request activation for 671 clients. vlmcsd(8) can be
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255 reset from this condition by restarting it. If FALSE is used,
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256 vlmcsd(8) reports current active clients as good as possible. If
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257 no client sends an "overcharge request", it is not possible to
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258 detect vlmcsd(8) as an emulator with MaintainClients = FALSE.
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259 Maintaining clients requires the allocation of a buffer that is
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260 about 50 kB in size. On hardware with few memory resources use
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261 it only if you really need it.
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263 If you start vlmcsd(8) from an internet superserver, this set‐
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264 ting cannot be used. Since vlmcsd(8) exits after each activa‐
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265 tion, it cannot maintain any state in memory.
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269 This setting is ignored if you do not also specify Maintain‐
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270 Clients = TRUE. If you specify FALSE (the default), vlmcsd(8)
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271 starts up as a fully "charged" KMS server. Clients activate
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272 immediately. StartEmpty = TRUE lets you start up vlmcsd(8) with
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273 an empty CMID list. Activation will start when the required min‐
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274 imum clients (25 for Windows Client OSses, 5 for Windows Server
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275 OSses and Office) have registered with the KMS server. As long
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276 as the minimum client count has not been reached, clients end up
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277 in HRESULT 0xC004F038 "The count reported by your Key Management
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278 Service (KMS) is insufficient. Please contact your system admin‐
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279 istrator". You may use vlmcs(1) or another KMS client emulator
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280 to "charge" vlmcsd(8). Setting this parameter to TRUE does not
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281 improve emulator detection prevention. It's primary purpose is
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282 to help developers of KMS clients to test "charging" a KMS
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287 This is the same as specifying -A on the command line. See vlm‐
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288 csd(8) for details. The default is 2 hours. Example: Activation‐
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293 This is the same as specifying -R on the command line. See vlm‐
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294 csd(8) for details. The default is 7 days. Example: RenewalIn‐
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295 terval = 3d. Please note that the KMS client decides itself when
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296 to renew activation. Even though vlmcsd sends the renewal inter‐
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297 val you specify, it is no more than some kind of recommendation
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298 to the client. Older KMS clients did follow the recommendation
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299 from a KMS server or emulator. Newer clients do not.
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302 User Run vlmcsd as another, preferrably less privileged, user. The
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303 argument can be a user name or a numeric user id. You must have
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304 the required privileges (capabilities on Linux) to change the
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305 security context of a process without providing any credentials
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306 (a password in most cases). On most unixoid OSses 'root' is the
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307 only user who has these privileges in the default configuration.
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308 This setting is not available in the native Windows version of
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309 vlmcsd. See -u in vlmcsd(8). This setting cannot be changed on
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310 the fly by sending SIGHUP to vlmcsd.
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313 Group Run vlmcsd as another, preferrably less privileged, group. The
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314 argument can be a group name or a numeric group id. You must
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315 have the required privileges (capabilities on Linux) to change
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316 the security context of a process without providing any creden‐
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317 tials (a password in most cases). On most unixoid OSses 'root'
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318 is the only user who has these privileges in the default config‐
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319 uration. This setting is not available in the native Windows
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320 version of vlmcsd. See -g in vlmcsd(8). This setting cannot be
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321 changed on the fly by sending SIGHUP to vlmcsd.
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325 The argument has the form ePID [ / HwId ]. Always use ePID and
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326 HwId for Windows activations. If specified, RandomizationLevel
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327 for Windows activitations will be ignored.
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331 The argument has the form ePID [ / HwId ]. Always use ePID and
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332 HwId for Office 2010 activations. If specified, Randomization‐
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333 Level for Office 2010 activitations will be ignored.
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337 The argument has the form ePID [ / HwId ]. Always use ePID and
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338 HwId for Office 2013 activations. If specified, Randomization‐
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339 Level for Office 2013 activitations will be ignored.
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343 The argument has the form ePID [ / HwId ]. Always use ePID and
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344 HwId for Office 2016 activations. If specified, Randomization‐
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345 Level for Office 2016 activitations will be ignored.
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349 The ePID is currently a comment only. You can specify any string up to
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350 63 bytes. In Windows 7 Microsoft has blacklisted few ( < 10 ) ePIDs
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351 that were used in KMSv5 versions of the "Ratiborus Virtual Machine".
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352 Microsoft has given up on blacklisting when KMS emulators appeared in
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355 Even if you can use "Activated by cool hacker guys" as an ePID, you may
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356 wish to use ePIDs that cannot be detected as non-MS ePIDs. If you don't
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357 know how these "valid" ePIDs look like exactly, do not use GUIDS in
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358 vlmcsd.ini. vlmcsd provides internal mechanisms to generate valid
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361 If you use non-ASCII characters in your ePID (you shouldn't do anyway),
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362 these must be in UTF-8 format. This is especially important when you
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363 run vlmcsd on Windows or cygwin because UTF-8 is not the default encod‐
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364 ing for most editors.
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366 If you are specifying an optional HWID it follows the same syntax as in
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367 the -H option in vlmcsd(8) ecxept that you must not enclose a HWID in
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368 quotes even if it contains spaces.
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376 vlmcsd(8) was written by crony12, Hotbird64 and vityan666. With contri‐
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377 butions from DougQaid.
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381 Thanks to CODYQX4, deagles, eIcn, mikmik38, nosferati87, qad, Rati‐
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386 vlmcsd(8), vlmcsd(7), vlmcs(1), vlmcsdmulti(1)
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390 Hotbird64 October 2016 VLMCSD.INI(5)
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