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I have been asked to help set up a KMS server for Windows 7 clients on a Windows Server 2008 (R1 SP2) server. Windows Server is licensed separately from Windows 7 (the volume licence is only for Windows 7).

Am I right in thinking that this means Windows Server will not be able to act as a KMS for Windows 7 and a Windows 7 KMS will need to be set up instead?

Mark Coleman
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2 Answers2

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You can use KMS on a Server 2008 (non-R2) server to license up-level versions, you just need to update the KMS server. (And also update your OS from SP1 to SP2.)

Here is the update:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2757817/en-us

This update extends the Key Management Service (KMS) for Windows Vista, for Windows Server 2008, for Windows 7, and for Windows Server 2008 R2 to enable the enterprise licensing of Windows 8 and of Windows Server 2012.

KMS provides support for the following KMS client activations:

•Windows Server 2008 R2

•Windows Server 2008

•Windows 8

•Windows Server 2012

•Windows 7

•Windows Vista

You can activate both servers and clients using the same KMS if running on a server, but you need a minimum number of each before the KMS will start working... 5 servers and 25 clients.

The KMS service does not require a dedicated server. The KMS service can be co-hosted with other services, such as Active Directory® Domain Services (AD DS) domain controllers and read-only domain controllers (RODCs). KMS hosts can also run on physical computers or virtual machines that are running any supported Windows operating system, including Windows Server 2003. Although a KMS host that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 can activate any Windows operating system that supports Volume Activation, a KMS host that is running Windows 7 can activate only computers running Windows 7 and Windows Vista. A single KMS host can support unlimited numbers of KMS clients; however, Microsoft recommends deploying a minimum of two KMS hosts for failover. Most organizations can use as few as two KMS hosts for their entire infrastructure.

From the following TechNet article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793434.aspx

Ryan Ries
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  • Is there a way to tell if the update is installed already? I get the error "The update does not apply to your system." when I try and install it. When I try to activate the Windows 7 key I get the error code 0xC004F015. – Mark Coleman Sep 02 '13 at 22:09
  • Either `Get-WMIObject Win32_QuickFixEngineering` or go to `Programs & Features -> Installed Updates`. Make sure you're downloading the exact right patch for your OS and CPU architecture (there are x86 and x64 versions of 2008 non-R2.) You also need to be running SP2, and a volume-licensed version of Windows, as it says there on the download page. – Ryan Ries Sep 02 '13 at 22:54
  • Oh. I suspect that the issue might be that the server OS is not volume licensed. Thanks, I will see if there is a way to work around this. – Mark Coleman Sep 02 '13 at 23:04
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As Ryan Ries said you'd need to upgrade KMS service (I've used KB968912). But there's one more thing - to be able to activate Windows 7 computers you'd need to install "Windows Server Standard 2008 R2" KMS key, not "Windows Server Standard 2008" KMS key on the "Windows Server Standard 2008" server.

So, if you don't have "Windows Server Standard 2008 R2" volume license (you don't have "Windows Server Standard 2008 R2" KMS key), then you can not activate Windows 7 using "Windows Server Standard 2008" even if you install mentioned update for KMS service. You'd need to configure one "Windows 7" workstation to be KMS host, using Windows 7 KMS key.

But if you have "Windows Server Standard 2008 R2" KMS key then you don't have to upgrade your "Windows Server Standard 2008" server to R2 - you can upgrade only KMS service so it will accept "R2" key.

This is all very confusing and very poorly documented.

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