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Windows activation is simple and straightforward if you understand the components. I have had a few customers that stumbled when getting a KMS online and in every case it has been an issue with name resolution, network connectivity, or they simply did not understand how to use the keys. Activation is designed to help you with deployments and sustain your environment even in the event a key gets lost. KMS is the simplest of all the activation methods because you only need to worry about putting a key in one machine. You can then deploy new machines without having to ever worry about keys unless your device will be off the network for more than 6 months.
This is the first of a two part series to break down KMS troubleshooting in to a process that should help identify exactly what is at fault. I don't want to mislead or instill fear to those who are just starting out - the process is normally simple by design. However, for those who have run in to trouble, I'd like to publish a guide that will help you isolate and correct the issue you've encountered without spinning your wheels. Part 2 will be published next week with a focus on troubleshooting the server.
Part 1, Troubleshooting The Client
Let's assume you are a consultant from outside the organization and you know nothing about the environment, server or workstation. The first thing you'll want to do is understand how the client was built. It is possible the machine is retail or OEM, and neither of those use KMS for activation. Any of the "Home" versions, Basic, Premium, or Ultimate, are retail builds and do not use volume licensing methods at this time. This is no change from XP, Media Center and Home were not capable of using the VLK. If you are using the OEM media such as a recovery DVD you would see the machine come online "pre-activated". This is a result of a marker in the BIOS that corresponds with the OEM media. Note: if this marker is not present, such as the case of "naked" OEM workstations, then KMS is not an option for activation. So we are assuming the machine was built using volume media and is capable of being a KMS client. You can test this to be sure by running a the command line and looking for the Name and Description. Right click on the command line icon on the start menu and select "Run As Administrator". Then type -
c:\windows\system32\cscript slmgr.vbs -dlv
My machine returned this output, I replaced any sensitive data with <>:
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This is a great blog entry about a TechEd session focused on Multicast in Windows Server 2008 Windows Deployment Services. Some very interesting information about special options to detect and deal with the slowest clients on your network. Josh's Windows
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Just a quick note to make sure anyone subscribing to my blog gets this info. Service Pack 2 for Server 2003 (yes, it has been out for a while now...) will be put on automatic updates June 12th. See Sean's site linked below for more detail and how to block
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Ben is a great BDD resource and the original creator of the idea to open notepad as an application during the capture process. If you are interested in BDD, subscribe to Ben's feed. This article shows how to "mod" the ZTIPatches script so that BDD can
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Good to know! http://itsvista.com/2007/03/installing-bdd-2007-with-secret-option/
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It's been a good week so far at MMS. The opening reception was fun with a lot of familiar faces floating around. I've been in the EdSG group long enough to know quite a few people who work in education and get excited about ConfigMan, OpsMan, Longhorn,
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I bring this up because it's the link in the components node in BDD that refers to a patch for Offline Servicing for XP and 2003. It has to do with servicing WIM files offline within XP and 2003, NOT offline servicing of XP and 2003 images. Link to When
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I'm loving this article from Mike Neil in the Windows Server group. Especially the quote below. I can't tell you how much time I've spent in the last few months thinking about this very concept. Education could really benefit from a widescale virtual
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Josh, you beat me to it. I can officially clear this from my Outlook 2007 todo bar. Great article. When working with schools on BDD I try to find time to show how to enable the wizard page that automatically sets up the image install as prepared for Bitlocker.
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As I'm sure you can tell I'm on the road this week. In fact, I'm on the road almost solid through the end of March. There is an absolutely wonderful enthusiasm in Education right now about Windows Vista. For my blog this means I don't have a lot of time
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Virtual PC 2007 Link to Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 VAMT - a tool for doing proxy MAK activation and analyzing groups of machines for VA status. Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) Finally, these were online last week but not officially announced until
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This looks really interesting. I will be testing today. Windows Easy Transfer Companion enables you to automatically transfer your most important programs from your Windows XP-based PC to your new Windows Vista-based PC. This way you can become productive
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I recently worked with a school district to walk through a full setup and capture using BDD. This was a really nice experience for me since in technical sales you sometimes spend too much time talking about a solution and not enough time working with
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The download for WAIK had been offline. It is back now! Link to Download details: Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK)
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The Windows Automated Installation Kit includes pkgmgr.exe to inject packages and drivers to offline images. "Packages" loosely means the updates that Microsoft releases, usually through Windows Update. I believe there are partner initiatives underway
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