If a machine is off the network for long periods of time or is not domain joined, use a MAK. Many organisations we deal with use both. KMS and MAK are both used for volume licensing customers, you cannot activate retail or OEM operating system installs using these methods. I would imagine that if you are reading this blog you are familiar with what volume licensing is. If it does not, the client will start showing activation messages. To remain active, KMS clients must contact the KMS server once every 180 days.KMS requires what is called an “activation threshold”, which basically means that until you have more than 25 Windows 7/8/8.1 activations or more than 5 Windows Server 2008 R2/2012/2012 R2 activations, the KMS server is not active.This type of key is intended to be used on a Key Management Server to provide activation for clients and has a couple of important factors: The KMS server is activated once, and in turn, clients will auto-locate and activate against the KMS service. Organisations who have certain machines which are not domain joined and/or do not connect to the business network regularlyĪ Key management server is a service which provides activation on behalf of clients.Small organisations with 25 or less computers.The MAK activation method is best suited for The activation process occurs once per machine either directly over the internet, via a MAK proxy or via telephone.

This type of key is intended to be used on multiple computers, but must be entered manually, via VAMT or in an SCCM task sequence. KMS seems to be one of those things that is sometimes quite poorly understood – and many existing blog articles or pieces of documentation seem to gloss over important details (IMO). Updated on : (Added Windows Server 2022 info)

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