Table of Contents
Microsoft Key Management Service (KMS)
Products for KMS activation
Installation media
How KMS works
Activation when installing
Manual KMS activation
Activation of Windows OS
Activation of Microsoft Office 2016, 2019 and 2021
Changing the activation from MAK to KMS
Changing Microsoft Office activation
Changing Microsoft Office 2016, 2019 and 2021 activation
Frequent errors
After the installation of a Microsoft software product, the software has to be activated. In the past, the software activation had to be done directly by Microsoft by entering a so called “Multiple Activation Key” (MAK). This activation can also be done by the GWDG's KMS server for every computer of the University of Göttingen within the GÖNET. So it is no longer necessary to enter a license key to activate a Microsoft software product.
Products for KMS activation
These Microsoft software products can be activated by our KMS server:
Windows 11 Professional, Enterprise and Education
Windows 10 Professional, Enterprise, Enterprise LTSC and Education
Windows Server 2022
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 / 2012 R2
Microsoft Office LTSC 2021 for Windows
Microsoft Office 2019 for Windows
Microsoft Office 2016 for Windows
To make a KMS activation work you have to use an installation medium form Microsoft's Campus or Microsoft Select program. KMS is the default activation process for these installation media. If you do not have such an installation medium, you can download them as an iso image from the network share
\\wfs-msiso.top.gwdg.de\iso$.
You need a GWDG Account to log in.
Detailed instruction
How KMS works
without having to enter a license key, a KMS software product automatically looks for a local KMS server during the installation. The software activates itself for 180 days if a KMS server has been found. Every week the software contacts the KMS server to reset this timespan back to 180 days. When the KMS server can not be reached for 180 days you get a grace period of 30 days. Within this 30 days you get a warning message and you have to reconnect to our KMS server (e.g. by VPN if you are outside the GÖNET). Otherwise the software reduces its features to a minimum until you reconnect to our KMS server.
Activation when installing
The KMS server is found automatically in many cases. Then nothing more needs to be done, especially if a computer is part of an Active Directory Domain. If this does not work, you still can activate your software manually with our KMS server (see below).
Manual KMS activation
After the installation you should complete the steps described below within 30 days if automatic activation does not work. If you already have entered a MAK key please follow the instructions in the chapter “Changing MAK to KMS activation”.
Activation of Windows OS
Manually:
Log into your computer with an administrator account.
Type into the search field
cmd.exeClick with the right mouse button on cmd.exe and select “Run as Administrator”
Enter
slmgr /skms ug-kms.uni-goettingen.deThis tells your computer the name of our KMS server.To complete the activation process enter
slmgr /ato
Activation of Microsoft Office 2016, 2019 and 2021
Manually:
Log into your computer with an administrator account.
Type into the search field
cmd.exeClick with the right mouse button on cmd.exe and select “Run as Administrator”
Change to the directory where Microsoft Office is installed.
If you are running a 32bit Office on a 32bit Windows or an 64bit Office on a 64bit Windows, entercd \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16
if you are running a 32bit Office on a 64bit Windows, entercd \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16Enter
cscript ospp.vbs /sethst:ug-kms.uni-goettingen.deto connect to our KMS serverFinally enter
cscript ospp.vbs /actto complete the activation process.
Changing the activation from MAK to KMS
If you have already entered a MAK key and want to change to KMS activation, you have to replace the MAK key by a KMS key. This is the default key for every Microsoft software product that has been purchased via a Microsoft volume licensing contract (e.g. MS Campus or MS select).
Changing the operating system activation
To find the correct key for your Microsoft operating system, check the list at
Log into your computer with an administrator account.
Type into the search field
cmd.exeClick with the right mouse button on cmd.exe and select “Run as Administrator”
Enter this command:
slmgr /ipk <KMS-Key from Microsoft>
For Windows 8.1 installations e.g. enterslmgr /ipk GCRJD-8NW9H-F2CDX-CCM8D-9D6T9
Now you can activate you Windows installation using our KMs server. If this does not work automatically, please see Manual KMS activation
Changing Microsoft Office activation
If you have activated your Office installation using an MAK key, you can still change to KMS.
For Office 2016, 2019 and 2021 see KMS key for Office 2016, 2019 and 2021
Changing Microsoft Office 2016, 2019 and 2021 activation
Log into your computer with an administrator account.
Type into the search field
cmd.exeClick with the right mouse button on cmd.exe and select “Run as Administrator”
Change to the directory where Microsoft Office is installed.
If you are running a 32bit Office on a 32bit windows or an 64bit office on a 64bit Windows, enter:cd \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16If you are running a 32bit Office on a 64bit Windows, enter:cd \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16Enter
cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:<KMS-Key from Microsoft>
e. g.:cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:XQNVK-8JYDB-WJ9W3-YJ8YR-WFG99
for Office 2016 Professional Plus.
Afterwards Office can be activated with our KMS server. See Manual KMS activation if this does not work automatically.
Frequent errors
For manual activation, you must run the Command-Line Interface (cmd.exe) as administrator. The option Run as administrator is available e.g. on right mouse click.
Error 0xC004F074 (“The Key Management Service (KMS) is unavailable”): In most cases it refers to incorrectly set time or the time zone.
Error 0xC004F035 and 0xC004F059: Especially for computers that were originally acquired with an OEM operating system, in this case the KMS activation is prevented by computer's BIOS. Such BIOS version contains an invalid ACPI_SLIC table. The KMS activation expect here a so-called “Windows marker” and fails if it is corrupted or not found. This error can usually be resolved by a BIOS update.
When the 30 day grace-period has expired, Windows is running in “Reduced Functionality Mode“, only the Internet Explorer can be called. In this case, to perform the KMS activation, enter the path into Internet Explorer:
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
This will start a command-line interface prompt without administrative rights. To run cmd.exe as administrator, enter the following command:
runas /user:administrator cmd.exe
At the command prompt with administrative rights, you can continue with manual KMS activation.
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