CSP Server 2022 Datacenter - Windows 10 KMS-ADBA

Question

Hi,

We purchased perpetual datacenter 2022 licenses via the CSP program. I'm just finding out that CSP doesn't offer any type of KMS keys, so it appears we won't be able to activate our 2022 servers via KMS/ADBA.

We recently migrated from Server 2012 to 2022, the 2012 server was functioning as a KMS host for our Windows 10 clients. Now that the server is offline, we are no longer able to activate those machines.

Do i have to have an OVA license for Server 2022 to operate as KMS host to license our Windows 10 clients (we have an OVA on windows 10 with a KMS key). Or is it possible to just enable to role of active directory based activation on the 2022 server and input the windows 10 KMS key?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi @Jason Smith ,

Due to you have purchased a perpetual datacenter 2022 licenses via the CSP program, you are not able to activate your 2022 servers via KMS/ADBA. However, you can activate your Windows 10 clients using Active Directory-Based Activation (ADBA) on your Windows Server 2022.

To activate your Windows 10 clients using ADBA, you will need to install the Volume Activation Services role on your Windows Server 2022. Once the role is installed, you can configure ADBA by following the steps outlined in this Microsoft documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/volume-activation/activate-using-active-directory-based-activation.

You can then input your Windows 10 KMS key into the ADBA configuration on your Windows Server 2022. This will allow your Windows 10 clients to activate against the ADBA service on your Windows Server 2022.

Hope it helps.

Lei