windows 7 licencing help needed

[round2it]

I have just purchased some laptops and they have win 7 home on.

 

I have purchased 20 upgrade licences from our lea Well just 1 licence code

 

do i need to set up a kms server for these to work or will i get away with not using one as i am only using 20

 

if i have to setup kms will it affect our other retail and oem windows 7 machines

 

do i sysprep with the licence or do i leave it out and activate after the imaging process.

 

Thanks in advance

[CAWJames]

Depends what kind of key they gave you. A MAK key is one you use manually in setup, the traditional way. KMS is one that you use with a server for multiple automatic activations.

 

The 2 kinds of code, although they look the same, are not interchangeable, so that would be your starting point.

 

James

[round2it]

think it is a mak key

 

ahh well going to sysprep this machine and see what happens when i activate.

[soveryapt]

think it is a mak key

 

ahh well going to sysprep this machine and see what happens when i activate.

 

Contact your LEA to be sure .. it will make life easier in the long run (i.e. if it is MAK then you can get it into the setup and then just look to activate using something like VAMT - if it's KMS, then you need to set yourself up a working KMS server).

 

I know my LEA (Lancashire) sell MAK keys for updates. I asked about KMS, but when I got our last lot they weren't looking at doing that because of cost difference or something ..

[FN-GM]

You dont have enough machines to use KMS, the minimum is 30

[round2it]

I have asked what type of key they have provided,

 

Any one know how you manage your mak keys to see how many activations you have used?

 

I'm sure at some point I will need a Kms server set up but I am unsure how it will affect my other installs for example I have 22 macs boot camped with retail purchased windows 7 pro all separate keys and also have quite a number of oem windows 7 installs.

 

It just feels like the whole licensing business is getting messy, but due to budget I can't rationalise it .

 

Oem retail and upgrade licensing

[FN-GM]

Any one know how you manage your mak keys to see how many activations you have used?

 

Its on the Volume License site

 

I'm sure at some point I will need a Kms server set up but I am unsure how it will affect my other installs for example I have 22 macs boot camped with retail purchased windows 7 pro all separate keys and also have quite a number of oem windows 7 installs.

 

If you have used MAK you can convert to KMS not sure about OEM ones though.

 

It just feels like the whole licensing business is getting messy, but due to budget I can't rationalise it

 

Have you had a look at EEES?

[SYNACK]

If it is a MAK key you should be able to access the activation count as per MS via the MVLS portal, if you don't have credentials to go in here and do stuff like get keys and download the latest ISO versions of your products you need to talk to your supplyer and tell them to stop being evil rip off artists.

 

KMS is really handy but you need 25 machines hooked up to it for it to start working. It does not affect any machines liscenced differently as they will only look for a KMS if told to.

 

VAMT is probably the tool you are after to handle activations locally with MAK so they are easier to track and apply locally.

Download: VAMT 2.0 - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details

 

The new liscencing can actually make things way easier if you have everything under VL as you just setup KMS and let the clients do it all automagicly.