In this section we will go into more detail on
aspects of licensing from a client perspective. You can obtain licenses
for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008, and Server 2008 R2 through
three channels: retail, original equipment manufacturer (OEM), or volume
licensing. Each channel has its own unique methods of activation.
Organizations are free to choose how they obtain their operating
systems, and based on that, they can choose among various activation
methods.
Retail
Windows Vista and Windows 7
products that are sold online, in a store from resellers or retailers,
or from Microsoft are individually licensed. This means that each
purchased copy comes with its own unique product key, which appears on
the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) on the product packaging. When
users start their computer for the first time, they can activate the
product by entering the product key displayed on this COA, or by using
the Active Windows option in the Control panel. This should be done
within 30 days after the installation, the so-called grace period.
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)
Most OEMs provide
systems with an operating system installed. By associating the operating
system with information in the BIOS of the computer, activation can
take place. This is done before the computer is sent to the customer so
that no additional activation actions are required by the user. This
method of activation is known as OEM activation. OEM activation stays
valid as long as the customer uses the OEM-provided image on that
specific system.
OEM activation is a
onetime activation that associates Windows with the firmware (BIOS) of a
computer; this is called System Locked Preinstallation (SLP). The
information is stored as a Windows marker in the ACPI_SLIC table of the
BIOS, which will associate the computer with a specific installation
type of the manufacturer. Reinstallation can only occur using the
recovery media provided by the OEM.
Volume Activation
The Enterprise and
Business versions of the Windows client and all the Windows server
editions can be activated using Volume Activation. Volume Activation
uses either KMS or MAK as an activation method, which we described
earlier in this chapter.
1. Using a KMS Client Key and MAK During OS Installation
Clients using KMS employ a KMS client key. KMS client keys are publicly available and known. You can find those keys in the pid.txt
file in the sources folder on your installation media and on TechNet.
When you are automatically deploying clients in your environment and you
want to use KMS for activation, you should use KMS client keys as the
product key. Table 1 presents the operating systems and corresponding product keys.
Table 1. KMS client keys
Operating system edition | Product key |
---|
Windows 7 Professional | FJ82H-XT6CR-J8D7P-XQJJ2-GPDD4 |
Windows 7 Professional N | MRPKT-YTG23-K7D7T-X2JMM-QY7MG |
Windows 7 Professional E | W82YF-2Q76Y-63HXB-FGJG9-GF7QX |
Windows 7 Enterprise | 33PXH-7Y6KF-2VJC9-XBBR8-HVTHH |
Windows 7 Enterprise N | YDRBP-3D83W-TY26F-D46B2-XCKRJ |
Windows 7 Enterprise E | C29WB-22CC8-VJ326-GHFJW-H9DH4 |
Windows Server 2008 R2 Web | 6TPJF-RBVHG-WBW2R-86QPH-6RTM4 |
Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC edition | FKJQ8-TMCVP-FRMR7-4WR42-3JCD7 |
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard | YC6KT-GKW9T-YTKYR-T4X34-R7VHC |
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise | 489J6-VHDMP-X63PK-3K798-CPX3Y |
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter | 74YFP-3QFB3-KQT8W-PMXWJ-7M648 |
Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-based Systems | GT63C-RJFQ3-4GMB6-BRFB9-CB83V |
Windows Vista Business | YFKBB-PQJJV-G996G-VWGXY-2V3X8 |
Windows Vista Business N | HMBQG-8H2RH-C77VX-27R82-VMQBT |
Windows Vista Enterprise | VKK3X-68KWM-X2YGT-QR4M6-4BWMV |
Windows Vista Enterprise N | VTC42-BM838-43QHV-84HX6-XJXKV |
Windows Web Server 2008 | WYR28-R7TFJ-3X2YQ-YCY4H-M249D |
Windows Server 2008 Standard | TM24T-X9RMF-VWXK6-X8JC9-BFGM2 |
Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V | W7VD6-7JFBR-RX26B-YKQ3Y-6FFFJ |
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise | YQGMW-MPWTJ-34KDK-48M3W-X4Q6V |
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V | 39BXF-X8Q23-P2WWT-38T2F-G3FPG |
Windows Server 2008 HPC | RCTX3-KWVHP-BR6TB-RB6DM-6X7HP |
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter | 7M67G-PC374-GR742-YH8V4-TCBY3 |
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V | 22XQ2-VRXRG-P8D42-K34TD-G3QQC |
Keep in mind that there is a difference between KMS keys and KMS client keys.
The KMS key is the key you use to active your KMS and is unique for
your Volume License agreement, whereas the KMS client key is publicly
known and tells your client to use KMS for activation.
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When you are using MAK during OS installation, the MAK key is added to the specialize pass in the unattended.xml
file. The MAK key is stored in clear text, which is a requirement of
the setup process. At the end of the installation, the MAK key is
removed from the unattended.xml in order to avoid misuse.
2. Changing the Client License Type After Installation
You will have different
usage rights depending on the channel you used to purchase your product.
In general, converting an OEM-licensed product to volume licensing is
prohibited, although exceptions exist.
2.1. Converting Retail and OEM Editions to Volume Licensing
You are allowed to change an
OEM installation to a Volume License installation if Software Assurance
(SA) is purchased within 90 days after purchasing the OEM product. This
exception applies only to Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, though.
Another exception is if the
OEM product is the same product for which a Volume License agreement
already is available. Volume License customers have reimaging rights and
may be eligible to upgrade an OEM installation using Volume License
media.
Retail and OEM
editions of Windows 7 Professional and Server 2008 R2 can be changed to
KMS or MAK clients. To change Windows 7 Professional and all editions of
Windows Server 2008 R2 from retail to a KMS client, skip the Product
Key page and when installation is complete, open an elevated command
prompt window and type:
Slmgr.vbs /ipk <SetupKey>
where <SetupKey> is the KMS client key or MAK that corresponds to the edition of Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
2.2. Converting MAK Clients to KMS and KMS Clients to MAK
By default, Windows 7 and
Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems use KMS for activation. To
change existing KMS clients to MAK clients, you must install a MAK key.
Similarly, to change MAK clients to KMS clients, run:
slmgr.vbs /ipk <KMS Client Key>
where <KMS Client Key> is one of the setup keys shown in Table 1. After installing the KMS setup key, you must activate the KMS client by running:
slmgr.vbs /ato
3. Postponing Activation
There are several
scenarios in which you want to postpone activation, such as when you are
testing functionality of the operating system or applications running
on top of the operating system for a certain amount of time. Also, when
building your corporate image you can run into a situation where you
want to postpone activation.
3.1. Postponing Activation Using Rearm
If you are not able to
activate your Windows installation within 30 days on clients or 60 days
on servers, you have the option to reset the initial grace period (a
process known as rearming).
For both client and server, you have the ability to do this three
times, which means that you have 120 days on clients or 240 days on
servers before you need to activate your systems. This extra time gives
you some breathing space when you are setting up your environment.
When building reference images
used for mass deployment, take these rearm restrictions into account as
well, because running the sysprep /generalize
option (discussed earlier chapters in this book) counts as one rearm.
So when building your Windows image, keep in mind that you can use sysprep /generalize
only three times in the life cycle of your Windows image. When you
activate with KMS, though, your rearm count is increased by one each
time you activate using KMS; this gives you some additional options to
create your reference image.
If you deploy Office 2010
within your image, the grace period for Office 2010 will probably begin
right away. Therefore, it's possible to rearm the Office 2010
installation for 30 days so that you have some time to do activation. To
rearm Office 2010, you should use the Ospprearm.exe file, which can be found in the \<Program Files>\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform folder. You can rearm Office 2010 five times.
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3.2. Working with Reduced Functionality Mode
If you fail to activate
immediately after the operating system is installed, the OS still
provides the full functionality of the operating system for a limited
amount of time, or grace period. The length of the grace period is 30
days for a client OS and 60 days for a server OS and can be extended
three times (except for Windows Vista Enterprise SP1, which can be
rearmed up to five times). After the grace period expires, the OS
reminds the user to activate by displaying notifications to activate the
computer. This is called Notification mode.
During the initial grace
period, periodic notifications that the computer requires activation are
displayed. During the logon process, a notification appears to remind
the user to activate the operating system and continues until there are
three days left in the grace period. For the first two of the final
three days, the notification appears every four hours. During the final
day of the grace period, the notification appears every hour, on the
hour.
After the initial grace
period expires or activation fails, Windows continues to notify users
that the operating system requires activation. Until the operating
system is activated or rearmed, reminders that the computer must be
activated appear in several places throughout the product.
After a user logs on, the user
is presented with notification dialog boxes asking the user to activate.
Notifications appear at the bottom of the screen above the notification
area. A persistent desktop notification remains with a black desktop
background (Figure 1). A reminder might appear when users open certain Windows applications.
When significant hardware
changes take place, a machine may fall Out-Of-Tolerance (OOT), which
requires that it be reactivated. At that point, the machine reenters a
grace period of 30 days.