Changing the licensing

[SnowLion]

Greetings:
I have an interesting scenario that developed. I am a consultant and had an
opportunity to use a KMS licensed version of Vista Business to upgrade my
laptop. Since then I found out this licensing scheme needs to contact the
KMS server every 180 days. OK, not a big deal as long as I am @ my current
client. If & when I leave the alient then after 180 days my laptop dies. I
do not have any issue with purchasing another copy of Vista Business. I
would greatly prefer to purchase the upgrade to save $$$. Before I
installed Vista I removed my copy of XP Pro & I still have the original
disk for it.

Q 1 - Can I purchase the upgrade?
Q 2 - Can I then change the product code to my purchased one & will that
stop the 180 day lifespan?

Regards - Fred

 

[Chad Harris]

Hi Fred--

Maybe these will help:

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/vol/default.mspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/bb335291.aspx

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=68

CH

 

[SnowLion]

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/vol/default.mspx

Thanks for the info & references. I already found thos pages on the MS
site, the blog was somewhat more helpful tho. I still haven't found a
simple Yes/No answer to the question "Can I change an KMS installation to
another licensing type without having to re-install Vista?"

Any references help is greatly appreciated.

Best Regards - Fred

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Thanks for the info & references. I already found thos pages on the MS
site, the blog was somewhat more helpful tho. I still haven't found a
simple Yes/No answer to the question "Can I change an KMS installation to
another licensing type without having to re-install Vista?"

That might be because you've yet to explain precisely what a "KMS
installation" is. This is not a common licensing term.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Seth]

That might be because you've yet to explain precisely what a "KMS
installation" is. This is not a common licensing term.

Anybody who can be of help to the OP does know what a "KMS installation" is.

KMS is Key Management Services. This is the way an enterprise customer
handles licensing. Rather than have each individual PC connect to MS to
activate, they have a server (or servers) inside the corporate network for
all the Vista machines to authenticate their license against. If a PC
doesn't check-in and "renew" every 180 days or less it deactivates. The
records on the KMS server is used at the end of the year for that company to
"true-up" their licenses with MS.

To the OP. Have you tried, in a command box with administrative
privileges...

1) slmgr -ipk <Product Key> (using your non-KMS product key) followed by
2) slmgr -ato (to validate the installed key against MS and activate)

slmgr /? will show all the options for this VBS script.

 

[SnowLion]

Anybody who can be of help to the OP does know what a "KMS
installation" is.

KMS is Key Management Services. This is the way an enterprise
customer handles licensing. Rather than have each individual PC
connect to MS to activate, they have a server (or servers) inside the
corporate network for all the Vista machines to authenticate their
license against. If a PC doesn't check-in and "renew" every 180 days
or less it deactivates. The records on the KMS server is used at the
end of the year for that company to "true-up" their licenses with MS.

To the OP. Have you tried, in a command box with administrative
privileges...

1) slmgr -ipk <Product Key> (using your non-KMS product key) followed
by 2) slmgr -ato (to validate the installed key against MS and
activate)

slmgr /? will show all the options for this VBS script.

No not yet. I was hesitant to change the product key to a non-KMS one
since I could not find any content as to the effects this would have. I
spent quite some time configuring the laptop & did not want it all to
lock up due to an invalid prod code.

Thanks for the assistance. I think this will work to change the KMS
licensing to a "regular" or MAK one so we can have the laptop "outside"
the KMS server realm.



Fred

 

[SnowLion]

Anybody who can be of help to the OP does know what a "KMS
installation" is.

KMS is Key Management Services. This is the way an enterprise
customer handles licensing. Rather than have each individual PC
connect to MS to activate, they have a server (or servers) inside the
corporate network for all the Vista machines to authenticate their
license against. If a PC doesn't check-in and "renew" every 180 days
or less it deactivates. The records on the KMS server is used at the
end of the year for that company to "true-up" their licenses with MS.

To the OP. Have you tried, in a command box with administrative
privileges...

1) slmgr -ipk <Product Key> (using your non-KMS product key) followed
by 2) slmgr -ato (to validate the installed key against MS and
activate)

slmgr /? will show all the options for this VBS script.

No not yet. I was hesitant to change the product key to a non-KMS one
since I could not find any content as to the effects this would have. I
spent quite some time configuring the laptop & did not want it all to
lock up due to an invalid prod code.

Thanks for the assistance. I think this will work to change the KMS
licensing to a "regular" or MAK one so we can have the laptop "outside"
the KMS server realm.

One last item, can the prod code be an "upgrade?" All our KMS were
upgrades. The articles & other posts seemed to indicate that once Vista
is installed it can upgrade itself.

Best Regards & thanks so much for your assistance - Fred

 

[Seth]

No not yet. I was hesitant to change the product key to a non-KMS one
since I could not find any content as to the effects this would have. I
spent quite some time configuring the laptop & did not want it all to
lock up due to an invalid prod code.

IMAGE the drive to an external location before trying the above and if it
messes up you can restore.

 

[Seth]

No not yet. I was hesitant to change the product key to a non-KMS one
since I could not find any content as to the effects this would have. I
spent quite some time configuring the laptop & did not want it all to
lock up due to an invalid prod code.

IMAGE the system prior to messing about and you can restore if something
gets hosed.

Thanks for the assistance. I think this will work to change the KMS
licensing to a "regular" or MAK one so we can have the laptop "outside"
the KMS server realm.

One last item, can the prod code be an "upgrade?" All our KMS were
upgrades. The articles & other posts seemed to indicate that once Vista
is installed it can upgrade itself.

That I can't answer as I do not know.

Best Regards & thanks so much for your assistance - Fred

No problem

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Anybody who can be of help to the OP does know what a "KMS installation"
is.

KMS is Key Management Services. This is the way an enterprise customer
handles licensing. Rather than have each individual PC connect to MS to
activate, they have a server (or servers) inside the corporate network
for all the Vista machines to authenticate their license against. If a
PC doesn't check-in and "renew" every 180 days or less it deactivates.
The records on the KMS server is used at the end of the year for that
company to "true-up" their licenses with MS.

Thanks for the enlightenment. It's rather sad to see Microsoft
adapting something so similar to Novell's license auditing scheme.
Previously (WinXP), enterprise owners of volume licenses didn't need to
deal with activation at all.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell