KMS confusion

[kennysarmy]

I'm trying to update my KMS Host server running "Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard"

 

When I run on the Host "slmgr.vbs /dlv " it shows the Description as being:

 

Desciption: Windows® Operating System, VOLUME_KMS_WS12_R2 channel"

 

Which I understand to mean it can activate all servers & clients up to Windows 8.1/ Windows Server 2012 R2.

 

And to update the Host so it can activate Windows 10 clients I need to install a new Windows Srv 2012R2 DataCtr/Std KMS for Windows 10 key.

 

I've found this key on the Volume Licensing Service Center.

 

Do I now just run the command slmgr.vbs /upk to un-install my old key then run slmgr.vbs /ipk #PRODUCT_KEY# to install the new one?

 

Any gotchas I should we aware of?

 

Cheers

[Firefox]

You need to run the latest adksetup file. This caused major issues for us though.

It could be slightly different as our KMS server is Windows Server 2008 R2, but after running the latest adksetup file we started receiving SQL errors when running the VAMT tool. This essentially turned out to be an issue caused by the updatewhereby it changed the length of some of the fields in SQL. The length appeared to be hard coded and couldn't be changed, forcing us to create a new database and re-gather the data. (Fortunately with KMS that's not as bad as it sounds).

 

Error: String or binary data would be truncated

 

also after running the /ipk command you'll need to run the /ato command to activate

Edited October 5, 2015 by Firefox

[kennysarmy]

You need to run the latest adksetup file. This caused major issues for us though.

It could be slightly different as our KMS server is Windows Server 2008 R2, but after running the latest adksetup file we started receiving SQL errors when running the VAMT tool. This essentially turned out to be an issue caused by the updatewhereby it changed the length of some of the fields in SQL. The length appeared to be hard coded and couldn't be changed, forcing us to create a new database and re-gather the data. (Fortunately with KMS that's not as bad as it sounds).

 

Error: String or binary data would be truncated

 

also after running the /ipk command you'll need to run the /ato command to activate

 

Why do I need to install adksetup ?

[SHimmer45]

as per your 1st post yes i would agree with what you have said, uninstall the old key install the new one and activate it if required, from memory it should be live as soon as it is installed as your server is already a registered KMS host.

i did this on my 2008r2 host when i updated it to register 2012 keys and 8 / 8.1 (needed a patch mind)

 

you dont need to use VMAT if you dont want to and are happy using the cmd line

[Firefox]

Why do I need to install adksetup ?

 

I assumed you were using the VAMT gui. You needed the latest version on the Windows 10 ADK disc to allow the import of keys into the gui

[kennysarmy]

I assumed you were using the VAMT gui. You needed the latest version on the Windows 10 ADK disc to allow the import of keys into the gui

 

OK got it - no I'm happy with the command line

[Firefox]

OK got it - no I'm happy with the command line

 

Do you not find the command line a little limited in it's ability to troubleshoot issues when a device won't\hasn't licensed? Maybe it's just quantity of devices that makes it that way for me. With the OS and office fully licensed, KMS is currently handling 21,500 licenses for us.

[kennysarmy]

Do you not find the command line a little limited in it's ability to troubleshoot issues when a device won't\hasn't licensed? Maybe it's just quantity of devices that makes it that way for me. With the OS and office fully licensed, KMS is currently handling 21,500 licenses for us.

 

Erm.

 

We've around 1000 devices being licensed by our KMS host (Office and Windows) and it's never needed troubleshooting - it just works!

[SHimmer45]

aside from checking the count status initially ive never needed to "troubleshoot" a KMS.

i also cheated and ran up a load of virtual machines to make sure it was working properly before rolling it out across a site

[Firefox]

aside from checking the count status initially ive never needed to "troubleshoot" a KMS.

i also cheated and ran up a load of virtual machines to make sure it was working properly before rolling it out across a site

 

Don't get me wrong, most of the time it works 100%. But dealing with the quantity of devices we do, then I guess you're bound to come across a few issues from time to time. I do wish the gui was dynamic however and would auto update the device status as it reports in.