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FAQ

What will change when KIT joins the Microsoft EES State Contract Baden-Württemberg?
The University of Tübingen provides a KMS server to all Baden-Württemberg universities participating in the EES contract. However, since KIT still requires its own KMS service to activate licenses purchased through Select Plus Academic, the DNS-side _vlmcs SRV records point to scc-lic-04.scc.kit.edu.
My Windows will not activate.
When activation fails, the KMS server returns an error code. The meaning of the error code can be found at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn502528(v=ws.11).aspx.
My Office is not activated.
On Windows 10, this article often helps: https://support.office.com/de-de/article/office-fordert-sie-wiederholt-zur-aktivierung-auf-einem-neuen-pc-auf-a9a6b05f-f6ce-4d1f-8d49-eb5007b64ba1
Microsoft's web pages have more advice on how to isolate activation problems.
KMS client key (GVLK)
With all Microsoft volume products, the KMS client keys are already preset. These KMS client keys are often also called Generic Volume License Keys (GVLK). You can find these keys on the Technet pages of Microsoft:

Office 2010: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/ee624355(v=office.14).aspx
Office 2013: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn385360.aspx
Office 2016 / 2019: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/vlactivation/gvlks
Windows: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/kmsclientkeys
Windows 7 activation fails with the message "DMAK limit exceeded".
You use a MAK to activate Windows 7 and receive an error message with error code 0xC004C020 during activation.
Solution: Activate Windows via the KIT-wide KMS server. To do this, follow these steps:
  • In the "KMS client key" section above, locate the generic KMS client key valid for your version of Windows.
  • Start an administrative command prompt on your computer and set the generic KMS client key with the following command:
    cscript slmgr.vbs /ipk <generic KMS client key>.
  • Set the KMS activation with the following commands:
    cscript slmgr.vbs /skms kms.scc.kit.edu
    cscript slmgr.vbs /ato
Background: The MAK used is no longer valid. The activation limit can also no longer be increased.
Upgrade options and qualifying operating systems
The upgrade options are described in theMicrosoft Windows 10 Volume Licensing Guide. Relevant for KIT is the column "Research and Education" in the tables on page 8 and 9.
Windows 10 LTSB and LTSC variants are not activated (obsolete)
Activation of Windows 10 LTSB 2016, LTSC 2019 and LTSC 2021 on KMS server and KIT-AD fails with error code 0xC004F074.

For this bug there are currently only the following workarounds:
  • for computers in the KIT-AD the group policy "SCC-KMS-VLActivationType".
  • for standalone computers a REG file with the following content:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform]
"KeyManagementServiceName"="scc-testkms-01.scc.kit.edu"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\55c92734-d682-4d71-983e-d6ec3f16059f]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\55c92734-d682-4d71-983e-d6ec3f16059f\2d5a5a60-3040-48bf-beb0-fcd770c20ce0]
"VLActivationType"=dword:00000002

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\55c92734-d682-4d71-983e-d6ec3f16059f\32d2fab3-e4a8-42c2-923b-4bf4fd13e6ee]
"VLActivationType"=dword:00000002