Thanks I think I found the answer on Technet:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979804.aspx KMS can activate both physical computers and virtual machines. To qualify for KMS activation, a network must meet the activation threshold: KMS hosts activate client computers only after meeting this threshold. To ensure that the activation threshold is met, a KMS host counts the number of computers that are requesting activation on the network. For computers running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, the activation threshold is five. For computers running Windows Vista or Windows 7, the activation threshold is 25. The thresholds include client computers and servers that are running on physical computers or virtual machines. A KMS host responds to each valid activation request from a KMS client with the count of how many computers have contacted the KMS host for activation. Clients that receive a count below their activation threshold are not activated. For example, if the first two computers that contact the KMS host are running Windows 7, the first receives an activation count of 1, and the second receives an activation count of 2. If the next computer is a Windows 7 virtual machine, it receives an activation count of 3, and so on. None of these computers is activated, because computers running Windows 7 must receive an activation count ?25 to be activated. KMS clients in the grace state that are not activated because the activation count is too low connect to the KMS host every two hours to get the current activation count and will be activated when the threshold is met. If the next computer that contacts the KMS host is running Windows Server 2008 R2, it receives an activation count of 4, because activation counts are a combination of computers running Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. If a computer running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 receives an activation count that is ?5, it is activated. If a computer running Windows 7 receives an activation count ?25, it is activated. Chris Bodnar, MCSE Sr. Systems Engineer Infrastructure Service Delivery Distributed Systems Service Delivery - Intel Services Guardian Life Insurance Company of America Email: christopher_bod...@glic.com Phone: 610-807-6459 Fax: 610-807-6003 _____ From: tev...@sparling.com [mailto:tev...@sparling.com] Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 2:59 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: KMS count question I'm pretty sure it is a combined value. Once you have the 5 server licenses, you only need 20 more to start activating the clients. I've never seen it documented anywhere, but that's the way it seemed to work here From: Christopher Bodnar [mailto:christopher_bod...@glic.com] Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 11:34 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: KMS count question I've got (2) KMS hosts on the network for activating Windows Server 2008 systems. Up until now, we haven't had any Vista or Windows 7 systems to worry about. The desktop group is starting to test windows 7 and I will begin testing Windows 2008 R2 soon. I have updated the KMS keys on the hosts with the new keys that support Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7. My question is regarding the count. It retained the count (10 in my case) so the Windows 2008 R2 systems I bring up should be activated right away (since the count is over 5). What I don't understand is where the 25 count for Windows 7 systems come into play. When I do a SLMGR.VBS /dli it shows me a count value. But it doesn't break it down between 2008 and Windows 7. So how will that increment? And is it a cumulative count of both OSs? So right now my count is 10, does that mean I need 15 Windows 7 systems in order to reach the 25? Or do I need 25 Windows 7 systems, since none of the computers that have added to the count so far have been Windows 7? Can someone clarify this for me? I have read all the Volume Activation 2.0 guides and this topic is not very clear in the documentation. Thank you, Chris Bodnar, MCSE Sr. Systems Engineer Infrastructure Service Delivery Distributed Systems Service Delivery - Intel Services Guardian Life Insurance Company of America Email: christopher_bod...@glic.com Phone: 610-807-6459 Fax: 610-807-6003 _____ This message, and any attachments to it, may contain information that is privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, copying, or communication of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and delete the message and any attachments. Thank you. ----------------------------------------- This message, and any attachments to it, may contain information that is privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, copying, or communication of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and delete the message and any attachments. Thank you. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
