Windows 7 KMS gets deactivated on linked clones

[danimr]

Hello,

I have an pool of linked clones based on a clean and activated Windows 7 KMS template. When the desktops are deployed (or recomposed) Windows gets deactivated and prompts for activation again.

Is this because Windows 7 detects too many hardware or configuration changes?

Any advise on how to keep Windows 7 activated?

thanks!

dani

[thro]

HI,

I'm not a vmware view user (yet), but i stumbled across this thread while looking for other info on KMS. AFAIK, a linked clone generates a new windows installation ID, which then requires KMS to re-activate.

This is, I believe, by design - i.e., the behaviour of vmware linked clones is supposed to do that - they get a different MAC address, etc so they can be powered up at the same time as the original machine.

I use/administer: vSphere 4 (ESX) | Workstation 6.5 | Vmware Server 2.0 | Windows 2003 | FreeBSD | Redhat EL

[cdiiorio]

You can not keep Windows activated. You can, and should, however, obtain a Volume License Key. Under a VLA you can have hundrends of activations using the same key, which will eliminate the problem that you will (sooner or later) have when you have exceeded the activations for the key you are using (most desktops can be activated 7x).

Thanks Billy!

Chris

[Dar88]

cdiiorio ,i have similar problem but in my case i have VLA key but not KMS server in house is host by Microsoft base of what my management told me ,but the other day i was checking the amount of the license is use it show up as up 100 and only have 25 computer active ,do you think the KMS server need to be hosted inside of our network ,and do have any idea how I can retrieve those un use license ,thank you for help in advance

[PNE]

"http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1026556&s...

Details

By default, the View Composer QuickPrep process uses Microsoft Key Management Service (KMS) to activate Windows 7 and Windows Vista guest operating systems. To make sure that View Composer properly activates the operating systems on linked-clone desktops, you must use KMS license activation on the parent virtual machine.QuickPrep does not use other volume activation methods such as Multiple Activation Key (MAK) licensing.CAUTION: View Composer does not support MAK license activation. Use MAK license activation at your own risk. For example, each recompose operation can increase the MAK license count, which can result in the unexpected depletion of MAK licenses.

Solution

You can activate licenses for MAK clients or bypass license activation altogether by setting registry values on the parent virtual machine. You might want to bypass license activation if you intend to install a trial license on a parent virtual machine.To enable QuickPrep to activate licenses for MAK clients:1. In the guest operating system on the parent virtual machine, start the Windows Registry Editor and navigate to the following registry key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vmware-viewcomposer-ga2. Navigate to the AllowActivateMAKLicense registry value. The default value is 0.3. Set the value to 1.To bypass license activation altogether:1. In the guest operating system on the parent virtual machine, start the Windows Registry Editor and navigate to the following registry key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vmware-viewcomposer-ga2. Navigate to the SkipLicenseActivation registry value. The default value is 0.3. Set the value to 1.

[npeter]

Hi,

If your parent VM is already activated and KMS activation parameters are set properly then make sure linked clones you created can contact KMS server.

You can verify this by just loging in to one of those clones and pinging the kms server by fqdn or manually trying to activate it without setting kms parameters again.( Find more about slmgr commands here  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793433.aspx )

If this is not working check your network settings to make sure clones can reach kms server.

One question here which version of view are you using?

[Camek]

We have many Windows 7 images using linked clones and we have found you must makes sure your base image is activated before you use it with linked clones and as long as your KMS server is setup it will work. 

However, we have had issues with imaging where some physical desktops lose thier activation after imaging.  The issue came down to have a bad key KMS activation key in the base image so to fix this we use the following command on the base image --      slmgr /ipk fj82h-xt6cr-j8d7p-xqjj2-gpdd4   -- which will rearms the Windows 7 image to use KMS.  This is a published key by Microsoft and fixed our issue so give it a try on your linked clone image.