FARONICS DEEP FREEZE - MICROSOFT VOLUME ACTIVATION 2.0 6-25-2009 Manual page 2

ENTERPRISE
Overview
With the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft has released an updated version of their Volume
Activation. This updated volume license program includes a new type of license called a KMS license.
This document details how Deep Freeze interacts with this new method of license management and
the best practices for ensuring that workstations will not enter a state of reduced functionality.
Note that this only applies to workstations running a Volume License version of Windows Vista.
Workstations that ship with OEM Retail or copies of Vista licensed with a MAK license are permanently
activated during their initial activation process and will never require reactivation unless major changes
are made to the system's internal hardware.
KMS License
KMS stands for Key Management Service, a new method of licensing the desktop OS that requires the
installation of a Key Management Server in the end users environment. The Key Management Server
works to activate the user's desktop operating systems without directly contacting Microsoft each time
that a workstation requires activation. This method of key management is designed mainly for larger
deployments to ensure license compliance and to reduce piracy of volume license versions.
Any workstation activated with a KMS license must contact its activating server every 180 days to renew
activation. Workstations that fail to re-contact the activation server within 180 days will eventually
enter a mode of reduced functionality until re-activated.
Deep Freeze & KMS Licenses
Since Deep Freeze restores a workstation to a given state each time the workstation is booted into
a Thawed state, there is concern as to how this will affect workstations that need to re-activate their
licenses. Because workstations will enter into a reduced functionality mode only after they have failed
to renew their activation for 180 days, the risk only exists if 360 days have passed without a successful
activation against the KMS server.
To safeguard against this eventuality, Faronics recommends Thawing workstations at some point
during the initial 180 days and running a command to force the workstation to re-activate against the
KMS server. This can either be done manually or via a script running through the Maintenance mode
on a Frozen workstation. The command to update the workstation's activation is shown below:
cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs –ato
This command must be run as an administrator on the Frozen workstation.
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