I'm trying to build a universal w7 that will boot from .vhd that is on USB so that I can boot it on many different machines. I started with Embedded standard thinking that would be the best because it has the correct driver stack for booting from USB but now that I have it running many of the tools I need to use do not work on embedded edition.so now Im dloading W7 Ultimate x32 since only Ultimate and Enterprise editions allow booting .vhd next I need a key and I see there are many types. I think I will need a VLK for this because I plan to boot from many different machines and from what I understand the VLK is the only one that doesn't prompt to re-activate when it finds new hardware that has drastically changes, is this a correct assumption or will another type of key work for this also? I find easily OEM SLP keys here but I dont know if these will work in this senario. I also find KMS and MAK keys and dont know about those at all either. Ive read that certain types of keys are not to be shared here but not sure which those are and I hope my questions do not break the rules either so please forgive my ignorance if they do. in XP it was the VLK that was needed to do this but I am a total newb with W7 so I dont know. can someone here help me clear this confusion? TIA
KMS activation is (almost) hardware independent and if you use AutoKMS or KMS Server Service (I prefer the later), it should be activated on different PCs. Ultimate can't be KMS activated, so use Enterprise.
what happens if you dont activate it and also when you change hardware with Enterprise? and your previous post you say "KMS is (almost) hardware independent" what does this mean and is there a hardware independent w7 (non embedded)?
After trial period ends, the desktop background simply goes black and a notification balloon states that the operating system isn't genuine. Extensive changing of hardware requires re-activation which is handled automatically by the suggested tools. Yah, some systems don't comply with OA 2.x activation due to missing marker & so KMS activation on them needs special workaround.
interesting, where can I find more info on these systems, their missing marker and the KMS work around?
from my reading so far it seems the only way to activate Enterprise is online and it checks in every so often for further activation procedures is this correct? is it not possible to activate Enterprise offline? it also seems that activation is never permanent but is that the case if you do not do updates online? I really appreciate all your help on this Tito and if anyone else can help clear confusion then by all means please do so.
[SmartAss]Both is correct.... KMS normally works online or in corporate/university networks, in case a Host is up. KMS Emulator or Server Service by CODYQX4 and some others works also offline. KMS Activation, as said ,by design is for 180 days and can be renewed infinitely . Easiest way is to install AutoKMS of Microsoft Toolkit via 'EZ-Activator' in Windows Toolkit section. This will create reactivation task with daily, onlogon and onstart triggers. Only make sure the AV isn´t flagging it due to false-positive. [/SmartAss]
that sounds like a pretty good deal.. ;-) I now have it installed in a virtualbox .vhd, I havnt entered a key yet (says I have 3 days to activate) I have a KMS and MAK keys to chose from. guessing the KMS would be the one to use per your suggestion but what is the difference from MAK and KMS keys or what is the difference they create when using one type or the other?
MAK is Multiple Activation Key - a type of volume key that allows a fixed number of permanent activations. Activates online against a server at Microsoft, or offline via telephone. KMS another volume key (gvlk) that activates for 180 days, intended to activate online against a KMS activation host (csvlk) running on an internal corporate network, and reactivate whenever needed on a corporate network. The KMS Server emulators accomplish the activation instead on localhost. Edit - with a MAK activation, a significant hardware change will require reactivation, and decrement the remaining activation count. It has happened to me even after upgrading a bios.
from that info it MAK was looking pretty good until I read your edit. is there any active solutions for MAK like there is for KMS? I think you good folks here have provided me with enough info to get started down the KMS path though. Im just trying to narrow down the time spent actually testing everything. my equipment is not cutting edge with blazing speeds so everytime I have to retry an install or even copy an image or vhd takes up a lot of time. it could be worse.. my first system only had 8mb (yes, MB!) ram and an audio type cassette tape for storage and the first program I ever ran on it (after coding it by hand) was "hello world" LOL Im sure there are others here who can relate, Old-School.
As MAKs are 'stolen' from somewhere, they will be blacklisted soon. As long as KMS activation will work i wouldn´t bother with MAKs. Creating a reactivation task with MTK is pretty much permanent activation .
slave77, I followed the first link in your sig and holy smokes! T.M.I. is this as complicated as it seems at first glance? it looks like this will take some serious work to get enterprise sorted out... I think I might need to try this out first by 180 day trial and if it works out then come back to go for the full KMS kit. My GOD MAN Thats awesome slave77!
No need to study rocket science . Use Microsoft Toolkit from my sig. Goto 'Windows Toolkit' via the little Windows icon at the bottom of MTK start window, then hit 'EZ-Activator', this will perform all needed operations . Assure your AV isn´t flagging AutoKMS as malicious, it´s a false-positive (bad for MS but good for the user ).