Install KMS Activation Server (Vlmcsd) on Linux

The open source VLMCSD project on GitHub (https://github.com/Wind4/vlmcsd) allows you to run a Microsoft KMS activation server emulator on platforms other than Windows Server (including Linux, Android, FreeBSD, macOS, and others). This project lets you deploy your own KMS server to activate Microsoft volume license products without needing a Windows Server license, providing a lightweight and flexible alternative for KMS activation. In this post, we’ll look at how to install the KMS server on Linux (including as a systemd service and as a Docker container) and use it to activate computers running Windows, Windows Server, Microsoft Office, Project, and Visio.

This article explains how to install a KMS server on Debian 13, on Rocky Linux 8 (a RHEL-like RPM-based distro), or run VLMCSD in a Docker container.

Install VLMCSD KMS Server on Debian/Ubuntu

Source files for the VLMCSD KMS server are available on GitHub. So, you first need to build vlmcsd from the source code, and it is recommended to do this on a separate system with a similar architecture (rather than on the production host).

To build a VLMCSD, you will need to install several packages.

# apt install git build-essential debhelper -y

Create a directory to build the package and copy the source code from GitHub into it:

# mkdir ~/vlmcsd-src
# cd ~/vlmcsd-src
# git clone https://github.com/Wind4/vlmcsd
# cd ~/vlmcsd-src/vlmcsd

Additionally, copy the files needed to create the Debian package:

# git submodule update --init debian

Build the DEB package

# dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -D -us -uc

Check that the package has been built (the vlmcsd_1113_amd64.deb package should appear in the parent directory):

Install the compiled DEB package on the production host:

# dpkg -i ./vlmcsd_1113_amd64.deb

Check that the vlmcsd.service unit has appeared in systemd:

# systemctl status vlmcsd

Create a directory for the KMS logs.

# mkdir /var/log/vlmcsd
# touch /var/log/vlmcsd.log

Specify the path to the log file in the configuration file /etc/vlmcsd/vlmcsd.ini.

# nano /etc/vlmcsd/vlmcsd.ini

LogFile = /var/log/vlmcsd/vlmcsd.log

First, let’s create a user account to run the service:

# useradd -s /usr/sbin/nologin -r -M vlmcsd

Grant permissions to the log file:

# chown vlmcsd:vlmcsd /var/log/vlmcsd.log

Specify in the systemd service parameters that it should run as the vlmcsd user.

# systemctl edit vlmcsd.service

[Service]
User=vlmcsd
Group=vlmcsd

Restart the service:

# systemctl daemon-reload
# systemctl restart vlmcsd.service

Let’s check that the daemon is now running on behalf of the user.

# ps -aux | grep vlmcsd

Check the logs:

# cat /var/log/vlmcsd.log

Ensure that vlmcsd is listening on the standard KMS port (1688).

# ss -lnptu | grep 1688

How to Build a KMS Server on a RHEL-Based Linux Distribution

Let’s take a look at how to compile and install the VLMCSD service manually on an RHEL-like Linux distribution (Rocky in this example).

Connect to your Linux server and use the yum (dnf) package manager to install the Git and GCC packages:

# dnf update
# dnf install git gcc

Now copy the vlmcsd sources:

# git clone https://github.com/Wind4/vlmcsd

# cd vlmcsd
# make

Change to the bin directory:

# cd bin

Run the KMS server:

# ./vlmcsd

You will see the following message:

Connecting to 127.0.0.1:1688 ... successful
Sending activation request (KMS V6) 1 of 1 -> 55041-00206-559-475403-03-1076-6002.0000-1482020 (3A1C049600B60076)

It confirms that you have successfully compiled and run the KMS server on Linux.

Vlmcsd listens on the default KMS port TCP/1688. So, you have to open the port in your Linux firewall to allow clients to connect to it. For firewalld, run the commands below:

# firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=1688/tcp
# firewall-cmd –reload

Make sure that port 1688 is open:

# firewall-cmd --list-port
# netstat -ntlp | grep LISTEN

To avoid having to start vlmcsd manually, you can create your own daemon that can be managed via Systemd.

# cp vlmcs /usr/bin
# touch /etc/systemd/system/kms-script.service
# chmod 664 /etc/systemd/system/kms-script.service
# nano /etc/systemd/system/kms-script.service

Add the following service description to the file:

[Unit]
Description=MSFT KMS Server Emulator
After=network.target
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/vlmcsd
RemainAfterExit=yes
LimitNOFILE=65536
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then run the KMS service and add it to startup:

# systemctl daemon-reload
# systemctl start kms-script.service
# systemctl status kms-script.service
# systemctl enable kms-script.service

The advanced KMS host options can be configured via the vlmcsd.ini file (there is a sample file in ../vlmcsd/etc/). There, you can also set a path to the KMS server log file (vlmcsd.log). Or set file paths in the vlmcsd startup options using the following options:

-i /etc/vlmcsd.ini
-l /var/log/vlmcsd.log

Running KMS Server in a Docker Container

It’s even easier and faster to run the vlmcsd activation server in a Docker container. The most popular KMS on Docker Hub is the mikolatero/vlmcsd container.

If Docker is not already installed on the host, the fastest way to install it is as follows:

# curl https://get.docker.com -o install.sh && sh install.sh

In order to run containers without using the sudo command, you need to add your user account to the docker group.

$ sudo groupadd docker$ sudo gpasswd -a ${USER} docker
$ sudo service docker restart
# Update your user group without having to log out.
$ newgrp docker

Now you can download the vlmcsd container:

$ docker pull mikolatero/vlmcsd
Run the container:

$ docker run -d -p 1688:1688 --restart=always --name vlmcsd mikolatero/vlmcsd

Vlmcsd runs on the standard TCP/1688 port by default. Docker automatically forwards this port and opens it in the firewall.

Activate Windows and Office via KMS Server on Linux

If you are using Microsoft DNS, you can create a _VLMCS record in your domain zone to enable Windows clients to automatically discover the KMS server address in the domain. To create a DNS SRV record, use the following PowerShell command:

Add-DnsServerResourceRecord -Srv -Name "_VLMCS._tcp" -ZoneName "woshub.com" -DomainName "192.168.14.147" -Priority 0 -Weight 0 -Port 1688

where 192.168.14.147 is the IP address of your Linux host with the KMS service running.

Then all Windows and Office hosts in your domain will now automatically activate on the KMS server if they have a public volume activation key (GVLK) installed. A complete list of GVLKs (Generic Volume License Keys) for activating all available versions of Windows is published on the Microsoft website https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/kms-client-activation-keys.

For example, you can find the GVLK keys to activate Windows Server 2022 Standard (VDYBN-27WPP-V4HQT-9VMD4-VMK7H) and Windows 11 Pro (W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX) on this page.

To manually activate the Windows host, set the GVLK for your version of Windows and the address of the KMS activation host. The following commands are used (for example, for Windows Server 2022 Std):

slmgr.vbs -ipk VDYBN-27WPP-V4HQT-9VMD4-VMK7H
slmgr.vbs -skms 192.168.14.147
slmgr.vbs -ato

You should see a pop-up window indicating that Windows has been successfully activated

Product activated successfully

Use the following command to check the Windows activation status on a computer:

slmgr.vbs -dlv

Error: 0xC004F069 On a computer running Microsoft Windows non-core edition, run 'slui.exe 0x2a 0xC004F069' to display the error text.

Similarly, volume versions of Microsoft Office 2021, 2019, 2016, and 2013 can be activated on your KMS host. This is achieved by using the built-in ospp.vbs script.

cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16"
cscript ospp.vbs /sethst: 192.168.14.147
cscript ospp.vbs /act

To check the activation status of MS Office:

cscript ospp.vbs /dstatusall

So, we have shown how to deploy a KMS server on Linux that can activate all versions of Windows, including the latest Windows Server 2025 and Windows 11.