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Windows Thin PC Activation: A Guide to Digital Licenses and Product Keys



Yes. Because the updates are cumulative, organizations must pay for the preceding years if they purchase Windows 7 ESU for the first time in year two or year three. That is, customers must have purchased coverage for year 1 of ESU in order to buy year 2, and coverage for year 2 in order to buy year 3. Customers may buy coverage for previous years at the same time they buy coverage for a current period. It's unnecessary to buy a certain period of coverage within that coverage period.




Windows Thin Pc Activation



All ESU customers must call Microsoft Support in order to place a request for a technical support incident. Premier and Unified customers can find the correct number to call within Services Hub. Non-Premier and Unified customers can find the correct number to call on the Global Customer Service phone numbers page.


We continue to work to fully automate the validation process. If a customer purchased ESU as part of their Enterprise Agreement, an agent can verify the purchase by asking for the customer's Enterprise Agreement number or for the full customer name. To locate their Agreement Number, a customer can sign in to Volume License Service Center, and go to Licenses > License Summary. Typically, the License Summary displays recently purchased licenses within 24 hours after Microsoft receives a customer order from a Microsoft Partner.


Installing MAK keys adds the ability to receive ESU. It doesn't replace the current product activation key (for example, OEM, KMS), nor does it reactivate the system. Organizations will have to install a new MAK key for every year that they deploy ESU.


The Extended Security Updates (ESU) License Preparation Packages (Extended Security Updates (ESU) Licensing Preparation Package for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Extended Security Updates (ESU) Licensing Preparation Package for Windows Server 2008 SP2) address activation experience requirements that we identified while testing and evaluating by using a large population of preview customers. We introduced the ESU License Preparation Packages on February 11, 2020 to:


An organization that uses volume licensing (VL) to manage on-premises deployments can use VL to deploy ESU to the covered devices. When an organization purchases Windows 7 ESU, Microsoft provides a MAK key in the VLSC. This MAK key is independent of the Windows 7 activation key and won't interfere with the existing Key Management Server (KMS) operating system activation deployment.


The update is programmed to look for the MAK activation on the endpoint, and will install only on those systems together with the MAK key. Learn more about Extended Security Updates and Configuration Manager.


Most organizations that purchase ESU through CSP shouldn't have to request additional activations. For exceptional scenarios in which additional activations are required, Partners should use Partner Center to open a support request.


After you have configured Key Management Service (KMS) or Active Directory-based activation on your network, activating a client running Windows 10 is easy. If the computer has been configured with a Generic Volume License Key (GVLK), neither IT nor the user need take any action. It just works.


If the computer is a member of a domain, it asks a domain controller for a volume activation object. If Active Directory-based activation is configured, the domain controller returns the object. If the object matches the edition of the software that is installed and the computer has a matching GVLK, the computer is activated (or reactivated), and it will not need to be activated again for 180 days, although the operating system will attempt reactivation at much shorter, regular intervals.


If the computer isn't a member of a domain or if the volume activation object isn't available, the computer will issue a DNS query to attempt to locate a KMS server. If a KMS server can be contacted, activation occurs if the KMS has a key that matches the computer's GVLK.


If the client isn't able to activate itself successfully, it will periodically try again. The frequency of the retry attempts depends on the current licensing state and whether the client computer has been successfully activated in the past. For example, if the client computer had been previously activated by Active Directory-based activation, it will periodically try to contact the domain controller at each restart.


You can activate physical computers and virtual machines by contacting a KMS host. To qualify for KMS activation, there must be a minimum number of qualifying computers (called the activation threshold). KMS clients will be activated only after this threshold has been met. Each KMS host counts the number of computers that have requested activation until the threshold is met.


A KMS host responds to each valid activation request from a KMS client with the count of how many computers have already contacted the KMS host for activation. Client computers that receive a count below the activation threshold aren't activated. For example, if the first two computers that contact the KMS host are running Windows 10, the first receives an activation count of 1, and the second receives an activation count of 2. If the next computer is a virtual machine on a computer running Windows 10, it receives an activation count of 3, and so on. None of these computers will be activated, because computers running Windows 10, like other client operating system versions, must receive an activation count of 25 or more.


When KMS clients are waiting for the KMS to reach the activation threshold, they'll connect to the KMS host every two hours to get the current activation count. They'll be activated when the threshold is met.


In our example, if the next computer that contacts the KMS host is running Windows Server 2012 R2, it receives an activation count of 4, because activation counts are cumulative. If a computer running Windows Server 2012 R2 receives an activation count that is 5 or more, it's activated. If a computer running Windows 10 receives an activation count of 25 or more, it's activated.


To track the activation threshold, the KMS host keeps a record of the KMS clients that request activation. The KMS host gives each KMS client a client ID designation, and the KMS host saves each client ID in a table. By default, each activation request remains in the table for up to 30 days. When a client renews its activation, the cached client ID is removed from the table, a new record is created, and the 30 day period begins again. If a KMS client computer doesn't renew its activation within 30 days, the KMS host removes the corresponding client ID from the table and reduces the activation count by one.


However, the KMS host only caches twice the number of client IDs that are required to meet the activation threshold. Therefore, only the 50 most recent client IDs are kept in the table, and a client ID could be removed much sooner than 30 days.The total size of the cache is set by the type of client computer that is attempting to activate. If a KMS host receives activation requests only from servers, the cache will hold only 10 client IDs (twice the required 5). If a client computer running Windows 10 contacts that KMS host, KMS increases the cache size to 50 to accommodate the higher threshold. KMS never reduces the cache size.


KMS activation requires TCP/IP connectivity. By default, KMS hosts and clients use DNS to publish and find the KMS. The default settings can be used, which require little or no administrative action, or KMS hosts and client computers can be manually configured based on network configuration and security requirements.


KMS activations are valid for 180 days (the activation validity interval). To remain activated, KMS client computers must renew their activation by connecting to the KMS host at least once every 180 days. By default, KMS client computers attempt to renew their activation every seven days. If KMS activation fails, the client computer retries every two hours. After a client computer's activation is renewed, the activation validity interval begins again.


Priority and weight parameters can be added to the DnsDomainPublishList registry value for KMS. Establishing KMS host priority groupings and weighting within each group allows you to specify which KMS host the client computers should try first and balances traffic among multiple KMS hosts. Only Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2008 R2 provide these priority and weight parameters.


If the KMS host that a client computer selects doesn't respond, the KMS client computer removes that KMS host from its list of service (SRV) resource records and randomly selects another KMS host from the list. When a KMS host responds, the KMS client computer caches the name of the KMS host and uses it for subsequent activation and renewal attempts. If the cached KMS host doesn't respond on a subsequent renewal, the KMS client computer discovers a new KMS host by querying DNS for KMS service (SRV) resource records.


By default, client computers connect to the KMS host for activation by using anonymous RPCs through TCP port 1688. (You can change the default port.) After establishing a TCP session with the KMS host, the client computer sends a single request packet. The KMS host responds with the activation count. If the count meets or exceeds the activation threshold for that operating system, the client computer is activated, and the session is closed. The KMS client computer uses this same process for renewal requests. 250 bytes are used for communication each way.


KMS hosts on the network need to install a KMS key, and then be activated with Microsoft. Installation of a KMS key enables the KMS on the KMS host. After installing the KMS key, complete the activation of the KMS host by telephone or online. Beyond this initial activation, a KMS host doesn't communicate any information to Microsoft. KMS keys are only installed on KMS hosts, never on individual KMS client computers. 2ff7e9595c


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