KMS - Office 2010 - Windows 7 - VMware View - Question Answer

Assuming you bought licenses from Microsoft with an Open-contract. On the volume licensing site you can see your products and licensing keys. There should be a mak and kms key. With the kms key you install your kms. The windows kms needs to be installed and activated. In this activation process the kms key is asked. The Office kms asks during its installation routine.

To tell windows machines to use your kms there are specific predefined keys for each os which can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx
Office doesn't need such a kms key since it is preinstalled.

Ok So, if I wanted all of my Windows 7 machines to get their License from KMS - I'd use the KMS key provided from the table you sent and NOT the KMS key listed on my Microsoft Licensing site.  But if I also want Office 2010 to use a KMS key, I install it during installation of the Office software and I use the KMS key found on my Microsoft Licensing Website?  Is that right?

Partial.
The "KMS activation"-keys in your M$ licensing website are only used on your kms host. The Windows Key after installing KMS while activating, the office key during install of the office kms host.

For installing Windows clients and server os you use the "use the kms"-key in the table.

For Office you don't need a key at all. The "use a kms"-key is preinstalled.

Maybe the word "Host" is throwing me.  To me, this is how it should work - and maybe I just can't get it out of my head as to WHY it doesn't work the way I think it should work.

You setup a KMS Server (The host)
You tell the server - Hey - I have KMS license keys for these software packages
So under "Product Keys" in the Volume Activation Management Tool
You list all the KMS keys you have.  Office Keys, Windows 7 Keys, Server Keys, Whatever
Your machines find your KMS server in DNS - Grab a license and everyone is happy.

Does it not work like that?  Why are there generic Windows 7 keys that you pull from a table?  Doesn't that make pirating Windows OS's easier?  I just don't get it.

Let's first stay with windows only for not getting confused with office.

To enable the kms server and use it you need to:
0) install it, obviously
1) set the key: slmgr.vbs /ipk <Kms-Key from Microsoft Volume Licensing Website>
2) activate it: slmgr.vbs /ato
3) reboot it: net stop sppsvc && net start sppsvc
4) install a client windows os
5) set key on a client: slmgr.vbs /ipk FJ82H-XT6CR-J8D7P-XQJJ2-GPDD4 (key for W7 prof. For others see above)
6) try to activate it (will fail, do it anyway): slmgr.vbs /ato
7) repeat step 4 thru 6 another 24 times.

After trying to activate 24 clients, the 25th should succeed and finally activate the kms licensing server. Thereafter the other clients can retry to activate again and succeed, too. Windows will activate itself every 120 minutes or you can force with the command from 2) and 6)


The KMS host will contact Microsoft every 180 days to check the licenses. So be careful not to open 1688/tcp from the internet :-)

I have done all of this previously and it works fine.  I wasn't sure what I was doing so I was concerned that I was not licensed properly.  My real problem right now is Office 2010 on VMware View Linked Clones.  It appears I didn't rearm my master image.  So for now I have ran a script on all of my VM's and had them rearmed.  So now they all show up in VAMT as "Out of box grace" and I can't seem to get them to activate via KMS.  Windows 7 seems to be doing what it's supposed to do.  Hmmm might be cause I haven't reached the threshold yet.  Is it 25 for Office as well?

I think I finally have my head around it.  I would have never designed this thing this way... but it is what it is.  Thank you VERY VERY much for all of your help and patience.

Thank you.