Okay, let me see if I can summarize this in a gazillion words or less... There are two types of activations for Vista- MAK activation and KMS activation. MAK activation works much like an MSDN subscription. You tell Microsoft how many MAK activations you want to purchase. Microsoft sells you a MAK key with that many activations. A machine that is activated via MAK activation never has to renew. A MAK-activated client either directly contacts Microsoft servers for activation or (in 2007, when the VAMT tool is released) it activates against a proxy in your company that "feeds" the activation to Microsoft activation servers. If you reinstall the OS and specify MAK activation again, then that will use another of your allocated activations. MAK activation is designed for machines that are NEVER connected to your network (VPN counts as connected) in any given six-month period. Therefore, we're talking about a machine that goes out your door and you don't see it again for a very long time. MAK keys should not be commonly or lightly used. In the reinstall scenario, much as you can now, you can contact Microsoft at that time and explain the situation and get another activation. KMS activation DOES NOT REPORT ANYTHING TO MICROSOFT. You activate the KMS host against a Microsoft activation server, and your KMS clients get activated by YOUR KMS host. Once a week, they try to renew. If renewal is successful, the KMS client now has six months from that day to renew again. The client will still renew once a week and will be extending that six month window each time. In other words, you always have six months from initial activation or renewal of activation before the client MUST contact a KMS host again. If it's day 179 and your KMS host has been down that entire time, when you bring it back up on day 179, your clients can renew their activations for another six months. During those 179 days while the KMS host was down, they are unaffected unless their 180 days of validity expired during that time and they were unable to locate and contact another KMS server. If you reinstall the OS on a KMS-activated client, IT DOESN'T MATTER, because Microsoft doesn't track KMS clients. In fact, even the KMS server only keeps track of the last fifty activations it has performed. Now, if you want to keep this information for your own records, you can easily extract it from the event logs or you can use the MOM management pack for KMS. With KMS activation, you are simply saying to Microsoft, "we anticipate that we will have 10,000 [or whatever] Vista clients. Therefore, we'll pay you for that many Vista clients." That's the end of the story as far as Microsoft is concerned. If you exceed 10,000 active Vista clients, then you're in violation of your agreement, but Microsoft won't know about it via some magic mechanism. KMS-activated clients don't talk to Microsoft. They talk to your KMS host. The step-by-step guide I referenced tends to look dry and overwhelming to people and I suspect that many folks don't really sit down and take the time to read it thoroughly (can't blame 'em), but it really is all explained there. Laura Hopefully I didn't put any typos or other doofusness in the above; it's been a bad week for me when it comes to typing. :-)
_____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Wade Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 5:40 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Vista Activation and KMS I have read all this, and it seems any thing but straight forward to me. It looks like we are going to have to invest a lot more money in managing licenses. I could also find nothing about what happens if we need to re-install Windows. It appears we need to re-activate, and it appears as its a new sid it will use a second license... Any one any pointers on this? _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Laura A. Robinson Sent: 05 December 2006 00:57 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Vista Activation and KMS Actually, it is clearly documented, along with a lot more information on KMS, MAK and Vista Volume Activation (btw, Volume Licensing doesn't exist in Vista; VL and VA are not the same things). You probably don't want to get me started on a big long explanation of how volume activation works, so I'll just point you to this site: HYPERLINK "http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/plan/volact.mspx"http://www.m icrosoft.com/technet/windowsvista/plan/volact.mspx :-) I highly recommend both the FAQ and the step-by-step guide. The latter provides information on how to change from KMS to MAK and vice versa (there are several ways), as well as documentation of defaults, configuration options, etc. Laura _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tim Vander Kooi Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 2:44 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Vista Activation and KMS You need to go to Control Panel > System then at the bottom select Change Product Key. This will allow you to enter your VL key which will result in Vista activating via the web. Definitely not well documented unfortunately. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Cline Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 11:45 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: Vista Activation and KMS I was testing out the RTM of Vista Enterprise last night and noticed I didn't have to enter a key at any point during the install. When Windows tried to activate, it told me there was a DNS error, so I suspected it looks for a local activation server by default. Sure enough, in the DNS cache was a lookup for a nonexistent _vlmcs._tcp.domain.com. Upon further research, it appears Microsoft has not released KMS yet, and I couldn't find any option to activate directly with Microsoft. For the moment, is telephone activation the only option? Brian Cline, Applications Developer Department of Information Technology G&P Trucking Company, Inc. 803.936.8595 Direct Line 800.922.1147 Toll-Free (x8595) 803.739.1176 Fax -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.430 / Virus Database: 268.15.6/567 - Release Date: 12/4/2006 7:18 AM -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.430 / Virus Database: 268.15.6/567 - Release Date: 12/4/2006 7:18 AM ********************************************************************** This email, and any files transmitted with it, is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email, or any response to it, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, unless the information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act. If you receive this email in error please notify Stockport e-Services via [EMAIL PROTECTED] and then permanently remove it from your system. Thank you. http://www.stockport.gov.uk ********************************************************************** -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.15.11/575 - Release Date: 12/6/2006 12:22 PM -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.15.14/578 - Release Date: 12/7/2006 1:27 AM
