Volume Activation (VA2) is new for Vista and Longhorn. Volume licensed customers are now required to activate all systems. There are two ways for customers to do this:
- Use a Multiple Activation Key (MAK), which is similar to MSDN keys in that a single key can be used on multiple machines.
- Deploy one or more computers in the organization's network that run the new Key Management Service (KMS) all other machines that can connect to the KMS on the network can automatically activate without connecting to Microsoft.
- We are only making KMS activation available initially through Tech Beta since we the MAK activation experience is already well understood.
- You should ONLY install volume activation from special VL media (ISO end in _VL)
- VL media are pre-keyed with a built-in setup key that automatically provides 30 days grace period (14 days for Vista Business and Longhorn Enterprise server).
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