| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
ranjb
Welcome Newcomer
5 Posts
Status: offline |
 Posted - 02/07/2010 : 4:18:27 PM
|
Hi
I have a sneaking feeling I haven't fully understood our volume activation works with Windows 7 and 2008. After reading some detailed articles on the topic though I realise I may have a problem in the near future. We are a school with a schools/Campus agreement license offering from Microsoft and have begun using Windows 2008 and Windows 7 on our network.
After running some commands on the KMS server (nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp) I was quite surprised to see that we have already 6 KMS hosts installed and registered in DNS and AD including a 7 test machine in the office as well as our production 2008 servers.
So the question is how have we got 6 KMS installations?
When we first received the keys of the volume licensing page we only used the KMS Key. At that time nobody knew what “KMS” meant. Since it was that and the MAK key we got, we thought as the MAK key had a countup (i.e. 0/500) we all thought it would be better to activate via KMS. Well, you really can use the KMS key to activate 7/2008. So, some of us in the office used this key for our 7 test installations as well as 2008 production servers. I was a bit more cautious and used a technet key.
However, the question is, when will we realise if we have a problem at all? In the case described above the problem hasn't hit us yet but I am a bit concerned especially as we have begun looking at Windows 7 test deployments. We haven't deployed it yet, so it is not a big problem. But reading the docs confirmed some worries I had about Windows Volume Activation 2.0.
Can someone confirm if this is correct? If I am able to remove all KMS hosts from AD. We have a 2008 datacenter license and KMS key. If I use this key when recreating a new KMS host, am I right in saying that this key will automatically activate any windows client and server. So when we create an image of a machine we do not have to insert whilst setting it up? Is this correct
I have designated a particular server as a KMS host. If I leave the entries in DNS for just this server and delete the rest, will it mean that the other machines will complain about activation and we re-activate them?
Or do I need to redo all of this?
Please Help I am confused!
|
|
|
wlazara
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2607 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 02/07/2010 : 5:33:57 PM
|
One way or another, it will all be ok :-)
I am assuming that you have a single KMS key? And that it at least handles Windows 7 it sounds like - what level is the key?
The first thing to do is to figure out what machine you want to use to actually be your proper KMS server. Typically you will want this to be an actual server (tend to be more stable and rebuilt less often than workstations) and ideally one that will be stable and be around for quite some time. Install your KMS key onto this machine. All it takes to turn a Vista/7/2008/2008r2 machine into a "KMS server" is to install the KMS key - that's it... Which is why you basically have 6 KMS servers all running right now - which have self-published the corresponding DNS entries into your AD DNS.
Now at this point you likely have already used up your limit on that KMS key (according to Microsoft it allows 6 installations on different hardware). So you have a couple of things you'll need to do:
|
 |
|
|
wlazara
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2607 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 02/07/2010 : 5:37:25 PM
|
whoops got cut off...
1) contact microsoft licensing clearinghouse and have them re-up your activation limit on your KMS key (just explain what happened, they deal with this all the time)
2) once you have your new KMS server up and running, make sure it is properly published in DNS and delete the other 6 KMS dns records
3) force KMS activation on at least 25 of your win7 workstations (you do this by installing the appropriate pro or enterprise generic KMS client key - the keys are listed here: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Access-Windows-7-KMS-Client-Setup-Keys-117216.shtml) INCLUDING the 6 workstations that you previously installed your actual KMS activation key on (this will stop them from acting as KMS servers and force them to activate with the "true" KMS server you have just created).
I hope that helps - let us know how it goes!
-Wes |
|
|
|
wlazara
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2607 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 02/07/2010 : 5:41:03 PM
|
I just looked a little more closely at your post and realized that maybe you don't have a KMS key that covers what you need. If you have a windows7 KMS key that will only activate workstations (win7 and vista). If you have a win2008 (not R2) KMS key that will only activate 2008 servers and vista workstations. So neither will handle all your machines. So you will either need to:
1) just stick with your win7 KMS key to activate your workstations and use MAK to activate your servers (should be fine unless you have a ton of servers)
or
2) see about getting a 2008 R2 KMS key, which will be able to activate vista/7/2008/2008R2 (you should be due this 2008 R2 key if you had software assurance on your 2008 licenses)
Note that you do not have to be running 2008R2 in order to use a 2008R2 KMS key. There is a hotfix you can add to your 2008 server that will allow it to host the 2008R2 key and properly activate all 4 of those operating systems I listed... |
|
|
|
ranjb
Welcome Newcomer
5 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 02/28/2010 : 5:15:44 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by wlazara
I just looked a little more closely at your post and realized that maybe you don't have a KMS key that covers what you need. If you have a windows7 KMS key that will only activate workstations (win7 and vista). If you have a win2008 (not R2) KMS key that will only activate 2008 servers and vista workstations. So neither will handle all your machines. So you will either need to:
1) just stick with your win7 KMS key to activate your workstations and use MAK to activate your servers (should be fine unless you have a ton of servers)
or
2) see about getting a 2008 R2 KMS key, which will be able to activate vista/7/2008/2008R2 (you should be due this 2008 R2 key if you had software assurance on your 2008 licenses)
Note that you do not have to be running 2008R2 in order to use a 2008R2 KMS key. There is a hotfix you can add to your 2008 server that will allow it to host the 2008R2 key and properly activate all 4 of those operating systems I listed...
Thanks
I did some of steps that you mentioned and it has resolved the problem.
On the KMS server I did install a 2008r2 key and this activated the workstations and servers.
Whats odd though is one of the servers shows "that its not activated" in the bottom corner of the desktop but if i go to control panel, system, it does say its activated.
Ever seen this sympton before? |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
Volume activation 2.0 concern and confusion!
