KMS Activation for Windows Server 2019

Due to the recent release of the new Windows Server 2019, it is time to update the KMS activation infrastructure in your domain and add the support of new versions of Windows Server and Windows 10 1809 / LTSC 2019 (Long Term Service Channel) on your KMS server. If you want to learn more about Microsoft KMS activation, we recommend to start with studying Microsoft KMS Activation FAQ.

Installing New KMS Server on Windows Server 2019

If you don’t have any KMS servers in your domain, you can install the Volume Activation Services role on your new Windows Server 2019 host. The procedure is similar to the installation and activation of a KMS server on Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016. Here’s what to do in brief:

1. Install the Volume Activation Services role on your server from the Server Manager console or using the PowerShell command: Install-WindowsFeature -Name VolumeActivation -IncludeAllSubFeature –Include ManagementTools
2. Enable the firewall rules that allow access to the KMS server: Enable-NetFirewallRule -Name SPPSVC-In-TCP
3. Sign in to your account on Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) website and go to License -> Relationship Summary -> Select License ID for your Active License contract -> Product Keys. Copy the key for Windows Srv 2019 DataCtr/Std KMS;
4. Install the KMS key using the following command: slmgr /ipk <KMS_host_key_Windows_Server_2019>;
5. Activate your KMS server on Microsoft activation servers: slmgr /ato
6. If you are going to use this KMS server to activate MS Office products, you need to install the license packages for the Office versions you have (Office 2010, Office 2013, or Office 2016 / 2019). Then specify the KMS Host Key to activate your Office edition and activate your KMS server (you can find the detailed instructions following the links above);
7. Now you can use your KMS server to activate all supported Windows (from Windows 7 to Windows 10) and Windows Server versions (2008R2 to 2019).

Updating Windows Server 2012 R2/2016 KMS to Support Windows Server 2019 Activation

If your company has an activated KMS server running Windows Server 2016 or 2012 R2 and you don’t want to deploy a new server running Windows Server 2019, you can use the old hosts to activate new versions of Windows Server and Windows 10 1809 / LTSC 2019. To do it, you need to specify a new KMS Host Key on the old activation server.

In my case, I tried to specify the new Windows Srv 2019 DataCtr/Std KMS key on the KMS server running Windows Server 2016 using the command:

slmgr /ipk <KMS_host_key_Windows_Server_2019>

But the following error appeared:

At the same time the error with the following description can be found in the event log:

Installation of the Proof of Purchase failed. 0xC004F015
Partial Pkey=xxxxxxxxxxxx
ACID = xxxID

When trying to activate the KMS key via the GUI, the following error appears:

Of course, Windows 10 LTSC 2019 and WS2019 also cannot be activated on this KMS server with an ‘activation server unavailable’ error: Error code: 0xC004F074.

To use your old KMS server to activate new Windows versions, you must install some special KMS servers updates in order to support Windows 10 LTSC 2019, Windows 10 1809 and Windows Server 2019.

Install these updates on Windows Server 2012 R2:

1. KB3173424  — Servicing Stack Update, July, 2016;
2. Any Windows Server 2012 R2 cumulative update released after December, 11, 2018 (KB4471320) or newer.

The following updates are necessary on Windows Server 2016:

1. KB4132216 — Servicing Stack Update, May, 2018;
2. Any Windows Server 2016 cumulative update released after November, 27, 2018 (KB4467681) or newer.

After you have installed the updates and restarted the KMS server, you can add a new KMS host key (VLSC) and activate it.

GVLK Keys for Windows Server 2019 & Windows 10 LTSC

The list of public KMS activation keys (GVLK – Generic Volume License Key) for different Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 LTSC editions is given in the following table:

To install a public KMS key on your computer or server, run this command:
slmgr /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
You can specify the KMS server for activation manually:
slmgr /skms corp-kms-ws2019.woshub.com:1688
To activate your OS on the KMS server:
slmgr /ato
To check Windows activation status:
slmgr /dlv