[windows software] Windows 7 Activation

[Badaz52]

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum but we are going to be moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 over the summer. What I have noticed is once you run sysprep it removes any keys that have been inputted leaving an OOBE setup with Windows 7 not activated. Now we have an Schools agreement with Microsoft so have both KMS keys and MAK keys for Windows 7. The question is how do you set up a server for the Windows 7 clients to activate against.

 

I have setup a KMS host for Office 2010 and thought it would work the same whereby the client would look across the network find a server and activate using a key that is registered on the KMS server.

 

I cannot find any documentation on how to do this and it starting to worry me as this needs to be right for the summer. How come it doesn't work just like Office 2010?

 

Thanks

Adam.

[MordyT]

You could use MDT and then part of the task sequence would allow you to use the MAK.

 

Not sure about windows KMS, but i would assume it works the same way as office km.

[plexer]

KMS Activation

 

Ben

[burgemaster]

If you are installing Windows 7 enterprise I believe you don't need to enter a key. Just setup your KMS. You need a certain number of PCs to try and activate before the KMS starts activating. So if you are testing KMS with one PC in the office it will never work. If you have already rolled out Win7 pro, you can bulk change the key to the KMS key using VAMT.

[sted]

kms is simple you either need a server running 08r2/2012 thats kms activated or a win7/8 box with the kms key in then as long as you hit 25pcs they will activate automatically (it just requires an entry in dns which it does for you)

[gavins38]

I used this guide How to configure a KMS server - Ivan Dretvic and set it all up on a Windows 7 VM. Works perfectly for office and windows activation. The only problem I have is that I'm having to manually add the IP of the KMS server as the DNS forwarding on the network isn't working properly. Probably something I've done wrong.