Have built a load of laptops for a project. Now training is starting and then are more that 30 days since build so getting message about not being proper copy of Windows. Existing Win 7 machines appear to register with KMS ok. I therefore assumed that after a reboot or two these laptops would register but doesn't appear to Worked around by slmgr /kms blah and that's fine but wonjdering why they are not picking up automaticallyIan Burnell, London (UK)

Hi Ian, is there a proper record for the KMS server in the local DNS server, and are the clients refering to that DNS server? Also you can try, if slmgr.vbs /rearm would fix the situation, since I got the feeling, that cloned systems sometimes do not put the count up - which matters, if the KMS Server has not the minimum client count to issue licenses out. (You can check this count on the KMS Server by command slmgr.vbs /dlv.) Best greetings from Germany Olaf

Thanks Olaf. I don't access to the KMS server itself, but I feel it must be working ok because we have build many W7 machines and they have registered automatically i.e. we haven't done anything and then if you check slmgr /dlv it clearly shows the correct server As I said these laptops were built over 30 days ago and then put in a cupboard ready for the training courses so there they haven't been on the network since being built. I don't mind putting in the slmgr /kms command syntax - Only thing is it pop up an ok box so not sure whether I could put that in an automated script Haven't tried rearm - all these machines just show themselves in the grace period Rebuilding machines is an interesting one - I did wonder if that could be a factor i.e. the KMS server was picking up a stale DNS record or something? - but in the case of these laptops they were all brand new so as I said I would have assumed that as soon as they logged in to the network it would register and sort itself out automaticallyIan Burnell, London (UK)

Since it is a vbs file, for scripting you could use cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs. I have put the activation process for my images into a script, which is called during first login after setup automatically. Best greetings from Germany Olaf

Yes this appears to work fine - I simply have a small batch file with cscript c:\win...\slmgr.vbs /skms server:port I have a funny one though. Even having run this on the machines in question they show as activated no problem BUT they have a black background. I can simply change this under Personalization but it seems to have set the black screen as the default background regardless of the fact the windows is now fully active and registered which from the user's perspective is very confusing Wonder if anyone else has seen this?Ian Burnell, London (UK)

Hi Ian, if you did not modify the default user profile manually, black screen background without picture set seems to be the standard. The background picture reference seems to point to Administrator profile in certain cases, which a limited user of course cannot access. The other option, in which a black screen is used, is if a temporary profile is being loaded. (In this case you see also a related message.) Best greetings from Germany Olaf

Thanks - the script seems to work fine and I have now added it into the buildIan Burnell, London (UK)