Hi There, I've been reading and watching loads of stuff about Windows 7 activation and I have to admit I'm pretty confused. I watched all the videos here . One says that KMS activation just seems to happen - all you have to do is install a Win 2008 server with a KMS key and everything that needs to happen (DNS entries etc) happens in the background. Then another seems to suggest that you have to use the slmgr.vbs script to set KMS up. Can someone please clarify what needs to be done to set up a single Win 2008 R2 server as a KMS host. Also, in one of the videos it states that activations are not completed by a KMS host until 25 client machines have requested an activation - what on earth is all that about? It would take our organisation months before 25 new clients are built - does this mean we have to go with MAK activation? What happens during the wait for 25th client to request activation, do all the machines sit as un-activated in the OOB section of the Volume Activation Mgmt Tool? Please someone clear this murky water.

If your organization is not large enough to use KMS, you will need to use some other form of volume licensing. Licensing questions are best answered by Microsoft or a Microsoft reseller. Bill

Hi, To install a KMS host, please refer to the following article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793416.aspx If you would like to use KMS, you must have at least 25 KMS clients. If the number is lower than 25, none of the clients will be activated. If the number is lower than 25, you may consider to setup virtual machines to make the number reach 25. Or you have to use MAK. Tim Quan

Hi, To install a KMS host, please refer to the following article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793416.aspx If you would like to use KMS, you must have at least 25 KMS clients. If the number is lower than 25, none of the clients will be activated. If the number is lower than 25, you may consider to setup virtual machines to make the number reach 25. Or you have to use MAK. Tim Quan I've set up a KMS already. I've entered the W7 MAK and KMS product keys we were given by our reseller so I presume I can now choose to go down either the KMS or MAK route, is that correct. I still have some questions though. 1. If I go down the KMS route is it just a case of using the correct media (volume license) for imaging my W7 clients and then they will automatically attempt to activate with my local KMS host? 2. If I go down the MAK route do I have to manually check which clients have or haven't activated using Volume Activation Management Tool and then force them the activate through that tool? 3. Can I change a license on a W7 client from MAK to KMS and if so how does that effect the MAK count. For example if I go to the MS license site I see we have used 1/250 MAK licenses. If I change that single MAK client to KMS will that the MAK count be updated to 0/250. 4. On the MS license site there is no license count for the KMS product keys - why is this?

Hi, Since you have many confusions about KMS and MAK, I think it is not suitable for us to explain everything on the forum. I suggest contacting a Microsoft Volume Licensing specialist to get detailed information directly: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/contact-us.aspx And I recommand reading Volume Activation documents on the following site to have a brief ideal of Volume Activation first: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff719787.aspx Tim Quan