Move KMS from 2012R2 Server to 2022 Server

[hipsterdoofus]

One of my last remaining 2012R2 servers is running KMS. The last few products i activated, I did via ADBA, but I still have some stuff in KMS. Ultimately, I would like to move everything over, but for right now, I would just like to get off the 2012 server.

I read some documentation that essentially said, you install the role on the new server, publish it in DNS and then delete the entry for the old server from DNS....but at what point do the keys registered get installed on the new server? It seems like it should be slightly more complicated than was advertised.

[3s-gtech]

AD activation is so good and so simple - do you definitely need to bother? Can you transition to the last keys to that and just kill the server and service entirely?

 

Otherwise, worth in-place upgrading? Should work fine as long as the server does little else.

[hipsterdoofus]

AD activation is so good and so simple - do you definitely need to bother? Can you transition to the last keys to that and just kill the server and service entirely?

 

Otherwise, worth in-place upgrading? Should work fine as long as the server does little else.

 

Potentially could do that - is there a way to tell what all is activated via KMS? When I tried to look, it seems like it only lists the highest level, and not every product that is set up via KMS. I just want to be sure I get everything migrated correctly.

[3s-gtech]

Yes, using VAMT. Not used it for years - was a right rigmarole which now isn’t necessary with AD. It may well help you out with this job though.

[hipsterdoofus]

From what I can tell, nothing is even using KMS any longer. My latest activations have all be done via VAMT with ADBA. I believe that the newest OS's even cover the older ones. For example, I have a Server 2012R2 server (yes, I'm working to get rid of it). and if I run slmgr.vbs /dlv on it, it shows the Activation object as being an server 2019 activation object in AD.

 

So I guess my next steps would be in theory to disable the KMS server services temporarily to make sure it does not break anything, though I'm still trying to figure out if that is possible...

[3s-gtech]

Yes, you can just stop/disable the KMS service. You’d need to leave it in this state for the full lifetime of the longest activation period (180 days? Something like that) or you can just turn that server off for now. The objects in DNS and DHCP will do no harm for now.

[hipsterdoofus]

Yes, you can just stop/disable the KMS service. You’d need to leave it in this state for the full lifetime of the longest activation period (180 days? Something like that) or you can just turn that server off for now. The objects in DNS and DHCP will do no harm for now.

 

Finally getting back to this, but dumb question - how do you disable the KMS service? I see nothing in services that indicates any kind of service that can be turned off.

[3s-gtech]

sppsvc or Software Protection Service.

[hipsterdoofus]

sppsvc or Software Protection Service.

 

Ah there it is - Okay got it turned off - strangely enough, it will not let me change the startup type - that is greyed out, so if the server were to restart, so would the service. Is there a way around that?

 

Also, reading the description, wouldn't this in theory affect the activation of the server it's running on? That server is still functioning right now as a file server as I get ready to migrate stuff off...

Edited February 12, 2024 by hipsterdoofus

[3s-gtech]

Yes, it may affect the activation of the host itself. You essentially install KMS into the existing service.

 

I think there’s an slmgr command to pull it back out again, but not something I have done. Bear with me.

[3s-gtech]

http://nitindupare.blogspot.com/2012/08/uninstall-kms-host.html?m=1

[hipsterdoofus]

System Administration: Uninstall the KMS host

 

Ah okay, yeah I think I had seen this elsewhere. So in other words, I'm just de-commissioning it and pulling out the DNS entry to as needed if I do it that way, correct?

[3s-gtech]

Yes - if you just want to test deactivating/decommissiong the server, drop the DNS entry only for now.

[hipsterdoofus]

Ah that makes sense.

[hipsterdoofus]

Quick update on this. It's been over a week since I deleted that DNS entry and so far, nothing has exploded . I mainly expected if it to affect anything, it would be older servers, but since the keys you register also cover previous versions of the operating systems, I didn't really figure it would hurt, but just glad to have a nice controlled way to do it. Thanks for the assistance!