windows 7 activation problem on vmware view 4.5

[snaikskinternat]

Hi All

we have deployed vmware view 4.5(connection server ,securityserver, composer) we have created linkclone desktop from my windows 7 parent vm (which is activated with KMS license)

now from windows 7 we have created 5 linkclone desktops, but all the desktop asking for windows 7 activation and office 2010 activation.

so please sugesst solution for above sitution. or do i need to create KMS server for windows activation........?

Regards,

Santosh

[caryers]

Can you access or ping your KMS server form your VDI VM? There are KMS command line utiliy that has switches you can use to determine where the license activation fails. I hope this helps...Scott

[snaikskinternat]

Thanks for your reply.

but i have not installed KMS server yet. i just want confirm the KMS server is required or not in such kind scnario. or is there any option to avoid the windows activation when we creating multiple VM with View composer.

Regards,

Santosh.

[iforbes]

Hi. I'm trying to use a KMS server to activate my parent image so I can deploy the linked clones and they can get activated against the KMS server. My problem is that I cannot get the parent to activate because apparently the KMS host needs at least 25 client computers in the KMS pool.

How do i get 25 computers in the KMS pool?? My intent is to first activate the parent image so I can deploy many linked clones and thus fill up that pool. Seems like chicken before the egg. Maybe I'm missing something easy? Can anyone please tell me how do I get 25 machines into the KMS pool when I cannot use linked clones to create my pool because the parent virtual machine (Windows 7) cannot get activated?

Thanks

[tacticsbaby]

First make sure that your KMS server is indeed up and running and that you have the proper KMS resource records in DNS. Once this part is correctly setup your clients will automatically find the KMS server from the DNS resource records and activate. You also need to make sure that you meet the basic requirements of KMS that would mean having a minimum of 25 Windows 7 clients or some combination of Windows 2008 servers (minimum here is 5). Once you mee the activation thresholds for KMS it will work. By the way you should go to Microsoft and download the VAMT. This tool will not only tell you what kind of license your Windows OSs and MS Office installations are using but it will also allow you to change the keys. Hope this helps. Please note that it is not enough to just activate the parent image for your linked clone pool. Each time you recompose Windows needs to be reactivated, this is the main reason KMS is needed for Win7 in a virtual environment.

[tacticsbaby]

Try forgetting about the parent and just spin up 25 Windows 7 VMs. Once this is done KMS should be ready. Here is more on the subject: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793434.aspx

[iforbes]

Thanks for the response. The issue is that with VMware View linked clones, it uses KMS to activate the clones. The caveat is that the parent image must first be activated. I'm running into problems because I cannot get the parent image activated because there is not at least 25 clients in the KMS pool. My question is how do I get 25 clients into the pool, so I can activate the parent image?

Thanks

[tacticsbaby]

You must use KMS when using linked clones, as this is the only activation method that is supported by View. If you want to avoid KMS then you could use MAK activation but the problem with this and linked clones is that you burn up a MAK key each time you recompose your pool. That is not good from a license count perspective. KMS is fast and easy to setup.

[tacticsbaby]

How many other KMS elligeable objects do you have in your environment currently? As I recall you can use KMS for Office 2010, Office 2007, Windows 2008 and Windows 7. Give this a read: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793434.aspx

[iforbes]

Yah, I'm just gonna try and spin up 25 linked clones at this point. I've disabled license activation in the parent image for now. For whatever reason the linked clones won't get fully deployed unless I disable this in the registry. I'm hoping after they get deployed the KMS pool will have it's 25 clients and start activating.

[iforbes]

Yah. I added Office 2010 KMS keys to the KMS host as well.

[tacticsbaby]

Please let everyone know how it goes.

[iforbes]

Thank you very much for your help. Very much appreciated. I'll let you know how it goes.

[dmp78]

sorry to resurrect an old post, but I was curious to how this all turned out.

I'm in the same boat - not having enough clients to get KMS working.  were you able to create the 25 windows 7 VMs and get it to work?

thanks