You can get this key from the Product Keys section of the Volume Licensing Service Center.įrom an elevated PowerShell session, run the following command to install the Volume Activation Services role: Install-WindowsFeature -Name VolumeActivation -IncludeManagementToolsĬonfigure the Windows Firewall to allow the Key Management Service to receive network traffic.

The user account you use must be a member of the Administrators group on the KMS host.Ī KMS host key for your organization. A KMS host running on a Windows Server operating system can activate computers running both server and client operating systems, however a KMS host running on a Windows client operating system can only activate computers also running client operating systems. Automatic publishing can be disabled and the records can be created manually, which is also necessary for automatic activation if the DNS service does not support dynamic updates.Ī computer running Windows Server or Windows. This enables KMS clients to automatically discover the KMS host and activate without the need for any configuration on the KMS client. Please see the table of activation versions to help you decide which is right for your environment.īy default, KMS hosts automatically publish SRV resource records in DNS. The version of Windows you use for your KMS host determines the version of Windows you can activate for your KMS clients. You can run a KMS host on any physical or virtual system that is running a supported Windows Server or Windows client operating system.

KMS hosts do not need to be dedicated servers, and KMS can be co-hosted with other services. Most organizations can operate with as few as two KMS hosts for their entire infrastructure. If you have more than 50 clients, we recommend that you have at least two KMS hosts in case one of your KMS hosts becomes unavailable. PrerequisitesĪ single KMS host can support an unlimited number of KMS clients. To learn more about KMS and the initial planning considerations, see Key Management Services (KMS) activation planning.

This article walks you through the steps you need to create a KMS host. The KMS clients that a KMS host can activate are dependent on the host key used to activate the KMS host. KMS clients connect to a KMS server, called the KMS host, for activation. KMS uses a client-server model to active Windows clients and is used for volume activation on your local network.

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