Introduction

KMS¹ uses a client-server model, to use it, you need to have a KMS host (server) available on your network.

Computers that activate with a KMS host need to have a specific product key (KMS client key, or formally as Microsoft Generic Volume License Key - GVLK).

Volume licensing editions are, by default, KMS clients with no extra configuration needed as the relevant GVLK is already there.

Get a product key

Get a product key from kms client activation product keys for you running windows edition.

To check your current windows version: run winver

Start KMS server

There are several KMS emulators, choose any:

• py-kms
• vlmcsd

I recommend using py-kms with docker:

1

docker run -d --name py-kms --restart always -p 1688:1688 pykmsorg/py-kms

arguments explained:

• -d run in the background
• -name py-kms container name is py-kms (name whatever you want)
• --restart always always restart the container if it’s not running (unless manually stopped, but will still restart if docker daemon restarts)
• -p 1688:1688 map host port 1688 (left) to the port 1688 (right) in the container
• pykmsorg/py-kms the docker image to run

activate with slmgr

In your administrator powershell (win + r, powershell, Ctrl+Shift+Enter):

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12

# uninstall product key
# slmgr.vbs /upk
# set/change the product key
slmgr /ipk W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX
# set the kms server address, 1688 is the default port (can be omitted)
slmgr /skms 192.168.122.1:1688
# activate windows
slmgr /ato
# activation status
slmgr /dli
# activation status (verbose)
# slmgr /dlv

Resources

• To install office, choose volume licensing edition, after setting KMS server, it will be activated automatically: Office Tool Plus