Category: Technical Reference

Microsoft Key Management Server (KMS) Details

KMS Introduction The Microsoft Key Management Server (KMS) is part of the Microsoft Volume Activation 2.0 solution managing Windows OS activation keys and performs activation for supported clients automatically. Starting with Windows Server 2008 & Windows Vista, Microsoft switched to an online activation system where every Windows OS requires activation.  KMS shifts the activation requirement …

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Microsoft KMS Server

The KMS Server is the Key Management Server for Microsoft product activation, primarily OS activation. An organization can configure a KMS Server to service all activation requests in the enterprise.  In order for the KMS Server to activate Windows 7, the easiest method is to install KMS on a Windows 2008 R2 server (Windows 2003 …

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Using Group Policy Preferences for Password Management = Bad Idea

Using Group Policy Preferences for Password Management = Bad Idea OR “How to Get Your Network Owned in Several Simple Steps” One of my customers recently needed to change the local administrator password on several hundred Windows 7 workstations and was trying to determine the best method: PowerShell script or Group Policy Preferences. The easy …

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Windows 2012 RID Management

While “1 Billon RIDs should be enough for anyone,” there are scenarios where a domain could run out of RIDs. This is a “very bad thing” since every security principal requires a RID for creation (Domain SID + RID = security principal SID).  One can check the number of RIDs remaining in a domain through …

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