So you have the Enterprise version of Windows 7 itching to get installed on your network….
…How do you activate it?
Our systems were moved from Windows XP directly to Windows 7, so KMS is all brand new. Windows Vista Enterprise used the KMS activation style and will work with this solution.
So lets get down to it
Installing KMS
Step 1, Work out what kind of KMS key you have. This is quite important, on your License agreement it should give you an indication of the key type you have. The table below will show you which versions of Windows your key will activate.
| Volume product group | Windows products | Key type | Products activated by key type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Vista | Windows Vista BusinessWindows Vista Enterprise | KMS | Windows Vista BusinessWindows Vista Enterprise |
| Windows 7 | Windows 7 ProfessionalWindows 7 Enterprise | KMS | Windows Vista BusinessWindows Vista Enterprise
Windows 7 Professional Windows 7 Enterprise |
| Windows Server 2008 R2Server Group A: | Windows Web Server® 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC Edition
Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 |
KMS_A | Windows Server 2008 R2 Group A Windows Server 2008 Group A
Windows Vista Volume Editions Windows 7 Volume Editions |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Group B | Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise | KMS_B | Windows Server 2008 R2 Group AWindows Server 2008 Group A
Windows Server 2008 R2 Group B Windows Server 2008 Group B Windows Vista Volume Editions Windows 7 Volume Editions |
| Windows Server 2008 R2Server Group C | Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems | KMS_C | Windows Server 2008 R2 Group A Windows Server 2008 Group A
Windows Server 2008 R2 Group B Windows Server 2008 Group B Windows Server 2008 R2 Group C Windows Server 2008 Group C Windows Vista Volume Editions Windows 7 Volume Editions |
Now this is the obvious part, depending on the type of key you have either use it on your server or workstation.
Now the machine that has the KMS product key simply acts as a KMS server. Simple as that.
Now you have to wait until 25 workstations or 5 servers have connected to the KMS for activation before the server itself activates the KMS and in turn activates all your workstations.
One point to note, that if you use deployment services to roll out your workstations ensure that when you sysprep them that they regenerate all of their installation ids otherwise your KMS server will simply receive requests for activation from the same unique id. (suprising you will not reach you 25 machine limit if this is the case)
If you need change the unique activation number for a workstation because of the above error then you need to open a command prompt and type:
slmgr.vbs /rearm