VLMCSD & License Manager
VLMCSD is a free, open-source software to provide an activation service (KMS) for any computer using Office and Windows products
License Manager is a free, open-source software to manage licenses of local or remote computers
For detailed information (written by the original developers), see here
| Contributor | Description |
|---|---|
| Linus Torvalds | Original developer of Linux kernel, used in VLMCSD on Floppy |
| Hotbird64 | Original developer of VLMCSD, License Manager, VLMCSD on Floppy, VLMCSD on WSL |
| Erik Andersen | Original developer of VLMCSD |
| Waldemar Brodkorb | Original developer of VLMCSD |
| Denys Vlasenko | Original developer of VLMCSD |
| H. Peter Anvin | Original developer of VLMCSD |
| Wind4 | Contributor of VLMCSD |
| kkkgo | Contributor of VLMCSD, VLMCSD on Floppy |
| HarukaMa | Contributor of VLMCSD, VLMCSD on Floppy |
| Nang | Contributor of VLMCSD database |
| shiroinekotfs | Contributor of VLMCSD, License Manager, VLMCSD on Floppy, VLMCSD on WSL, VLMCSD Database |
| Folder Name | Description |
|---|---|
| database-config | Database for vlmcsd, License Manager, and MSSQL 2022. It also contains getkey.py and Microsoft SQL Server 2022 key management notebook |
| license-manager | License Manager source folder |
| vlmcsd-floppy |
vlmcsd on floppy disk |
| vlmcsd-wsl |
vlmcsd for Windows Subsystem for Linux |
| vlmcsd |
vlmcsd base source code |
| VLMCSD App | Description | Command line |
|---|---|---|
vlmcs |
vlmcs is a program that can be used to test a KMS server that provides activation for Microsoft products. It supports KMS 4, KMS 5, and KMS 6 protocol. |
See the document |
vlmcsd |
vlmcsd is a fully Microsoft-compatible KMS server that provides product activation services to clients. It is a drop-in replacement for a Microsoft KMS server. It supports KMS 4, KMS 5, and KMS 6 protocol. |
See the document |
vlmcsdmulti |
vlmcsdmulti is a multi-call binary that contains vlmcs and vlmcsd in a single binary. Since both programs share much code and data, the combined binary is significantly smaller than the sum of both files. |
See the document |
On a system having too many applications running, using docker is the better way to deploy, maintain, and retire vlmcsd
Containerized vlmcsd for both Linux and Windows are available on Docker Hub. By default, the container will expose port 1688.
- For Windows Server editions, these images are available for Windows Server 2016 and up. You can try to run these images by using these following command lines
:: Windows Server 2016 container
docker run -p 1688:1688 theflightsims/vlmcsd:ltsc2016-amd64
:: Windows Server 2019 container
docker run -p 1688:1688 theflightsims/vlmcsd:ltsc2019-amd64
:: Windows Server 2022 container
docker run -p 1688:1688 theflightsims/vlmcsd:ltsc2022-amd64- For Linux, containerized images are available for supporting architectures. You can try these available architectures by using following command lines
# AMD64
docker run -p 1688:1688 theflightsims/vlmcsd:linux-amd64
# ARM64
docker run -p 1688:1688 theflightsims/vlmcsd:linux-arm64
# S390X
docker run -p 1688:1688 theflightsims/vlmcsd:linux-s390x
# PPC64LE
docker run -p 1688:1688 theflightsims/vlmcsd:linux-ppc64le
# RISCv64
docker run -p 1688:1688 theflightsims/vlmcsd:linux-riscv64
# MIPS64LE
docker run -p 1688:1688 theflightsims/vlmcsd:linux-mips64leTypically, VLMCSD can be installed and running as an activation service, but in some cases, VLMCSD on Floppy provides a light-weight activation service for the lab to test; or provide an internal activation for the host (the error 0x8007000D prevents Windows from activating locally)
Note:
- When creating a VM on Hyper-V that uses VLMCSD floppy, make sure that you choose Generation 1 because of the incompatible with the Hyper-V Generation 2.
- When creating a VM on VMWare or Virtual Box, you must configure your boot OS as Linux (x86) to sync the VM BIOS with the OS
The VLMCSD on Floppy is a disk-less system that works entirely on RAM. The file system is a RAM disk created from the initrd file on the floppy image. That means anything you have made from inside the virtual machine will be lost when you reboot the machine.
The kernel boots up while the init script (/sbin/init) waits 5 seconds. While this, you can:
Press m to enter IPv4 & timezone configuration
Press t to start configure timezone configuration only
Press s to enter pre—vlmcsd—service shell.
You can skip waiting for 5 seconds by pressing any other key. You also will see the IP addresses and a table containing user names and passwords.
5 local login shells are provided on /dev/tty2 to /dev/tty6. To switch between the logins, you can press ALT and F2 to F6, or return to the service logs by pressing ALT-F1. This allows users can use multiple terminals at once.
The floppy image only provides basic Unix commands—type busybox or /bin to get a list. The only editor available is vi. If you don't like vi, you may transfer config files via FTP to edit them with the editor of your choice and transfer them back.
You may need some just-in-time commands by pressing ALT-F8.
1. Restart vlmcsd service
2. Stop vlmcsd service
3. Restart network service (includes telnet and ftp)
4. Stop network service (includes telnet and ftp)
5. Change the timezone
6. Show all kernel boot parameters
7. Show boot log
8. Show TCP/IP configuration
9. Show running processes
k. Change keyboard layout
s. Shutdown the computer
r. Reboot the computer
VLMCSD on WSL is recommended for multi-system on Windows. To see how WSL works, see here
You can use VLMCSD on WSL as you do on Floppy. However, the changes you have made on the WSL distro are permanent.
To use VLMCSD on WSL, import it into the WSL database. To do this, change your active directory on the terminal to the folder (project path)/vlmcsd-beta/wsl
wsl --import <Your Distro Name> <Your installation directory> vlmcsd.tarThis guide only applies to License Manager, version 5.5.0, built and released by TheFlightSims. If you use your own copy of License Manager, or repack by others, the guide may differ.
(1) License Manager tools (stores in tabs and quick access tools)
(2) Connection credential and selected edition
(3) Verbose license information
(4) Verbose machine information
(5) Progress bar
Click on Install a Generic Key, and select the key that you want to install. You can copy-n-paste the key, or click Check and then click Install on the Product Finder window.
For Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft SCCM, you need to copy-n-paste in the product key box. License Manager cannot install these keys on your machine
To activate using KMS Server, your destination computer needs a Generic Volume License Key (GVLK) installed. See this document to know how. Normally, the product keys stores in the License Manager that you can install are public GVLKs, so you will not need to find it on the Internet!
You will need to determine which server responds to your request by entering the field Override KMS Host data with the IP Address or DNS Name, or you just need to determine the KMS Domain. Don't forget to save the settings!
Pro tip: if you use the Server edition, License Manager can verify whether the server can respond with your product activation in "Start a KMS Client"
You can just simply click on Product Finder and paste your product key: you will see your product key details, including its EPID and Complete PID.
You can choose to Install it or Check the availability online.
Note that you can only verify Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, and Microsoft Visual Studio. However, Microsoft Visual Studio cannot be installed - you must enter the product key manually.
You can export to these specific files in License Manager:
| Export format | File extension | Description |
|---|---|---|
| VLMCSD | .kmd |
This format used by vlmcsd, as the external (add-on) database |
| py-kms classic | .txt |
This format used by py-kms (KMS for Python 2) |
| Generic C/C++/C# |
.txt, .c, .cpp, .h, .hpp, .cs
|
This format helps developers to modify the vlmcsd source code |
| License Manager database, py-kms | .xml |
This format used by License Manager |
-
- Open winser-mgmttools.sln, then click on vlmcsd.sln and open with Visual Studio
If the VS 2022 selection isn't in Open With, you can add VS2022 within the Add Program
-
- After opening this, you can build VLMCSD
The Final build locates in the !bin!
You must know to edit the Floppy.
Note that the floppy does NOT contain
mkinitrd.guidefile. It helps our developers in rebuilding the initrd
| File in floppy | Description |
|---|---|
| bzImage | Linux kernel, version 3.12 |
| initrd | initial RAM disk, compressed as CPIO + LZMA |
| ldlinux.sys | Linux bootloader for floppy |
| syslinux.cfg | Linux System Configuration |
Note: We sort by zero which means you have to follow these instructions in order, do it in order of sections.
- Configure and rebuild initrd
To follow more straightforward, we use the default path (project path)/vlmcsd-beta/vlmcsd-floppy/vlmcsd-floppy-content. You must configure your terminal to this path to this path to follow this guide easier
-
Configure initrd
The list of files below helps you to determine each purpose of the files in initrd in floppy disk
In here, we use the Linux root path, which is extracted in the folder (project path)/vlmcsd-beta/vlmcsd-floppy/vlmcsd-floppy-content/initrd
-
Rebuild the initrd by using these commands in WSL (recommend Debian or Ubuntu) or run them in Linux
#You must configure your terminal to (project path)/vlmcsd-beta/floppy/vlmcsd-floppy-content
rm initrd
cd initrd-sources
find . | cpio -o -H newc > ../initrd~
cd ..
lzma initrd~
mv initrd~.lzma initrdYou still can change the behavior of the compression model (e.g., compress with a smaller packet size), but you must know what you do. To understand how to use WSL, you can see here. Although WSL1 and WSL2 can do the same, we recommend WSL2 because more stable and secure for your device
- Edit the virtual floppy disk
You may need to use OSFMount to mount the formatted-FAT16-floppy disk.
After mounting the floppy disk, copy-n-paste the files you have already edited.
-
- Open winser-mgmttools.sln, then click on LicenseManager.sln and open with Visual Studio
- Open winser-mgmttools.sln, then click on LicenseManager.sln and open with Visual Studio
If the VS 2022 selection isn't in Open With, you can add VS2022 within the Add Program
-
- After opening this, you can build License Manager
- License Manager database
Since the PR #37, we have merged external LMDB within the application. That means, you can no longer use external databases.
VLMCSD Service configuration (or known as vlmcsd.ini) is as vlmcsd service configuration.
VLMCSD Database (or known as vlmcsd.kmd) is the binary, external vlmcsd database. You can configure it in vlmcsd.ini, or you can use CLI.
In the vlmcsd.kmd, make sure that Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft SCCM keys are not in vlmcsd.kmd because these are NOT KMS keys and cannot be activated as KMS protocols, and cause vlmcsd service crash to desktop (CTD).
To use the database, restore the database from the file PDKDB.bak
The database is only readable on Microsoft SQL Server 2022. Consider to upgrade your own SQL Server to use it.
To manage the Product Key database, use the Azure Data Studio to open Product Key Notebook.ipynb, and use it to connect and manage the Product Key database.
-
Product Key tables are the
.csvportable file that can open on Microsoft Excel, or WPS Excel.
Check the list of product keys that VLMCSD can activate
| Error code | Error message | Activation type |
|---|---|---|
| 0x8007000D | The KMS host you are using cannot handle your product. It only supports legacy versions. | KMS client |
| 0x8004FE21 | This computer is not running genuine Windows. | MAK/KMS client |
| 0x80070005 | Access denied. The requested action requires elevated privileges. | MAK/KMS client/KMS host |
| 0x8007007b | DNS name does not exist. | KMS client |
| 0x80070490 | The product key you entered didn't work. Check the product key and try again, or enter a different one. | MAK |
| 0x800706BA | The RPC server is unavailable. | KMS client |
| 0x8007232A | DNS server failure. | KMS host |
| 0x8007232B | DNS name does not exist. | KMS client |
| 0x8007251D | No records found for DNS query. | KMS client |
| 0x80092328 | DNS name does not exist. | KMS client |
| 0xC004B100 | The activation server determined that the computer could not be activated. | MAK |
| 0xC004C001 | The activation server determined the specified product key is invalid | MAK |
| 0xC004C003 | The activation server determined the specified product key is blocked | MAK |
| 0xC004C008 | The activation server determined that the specified product key could not be used. | KMS |
| 0xC004C020 | The activation server reported that the Multiple Activation Key has exceeded its limit. | MAK |
| 0xC004C021 | The activation server reported that the Multiple Activation Key extension limit has been exceeded. | MAK |
| 0xC004F009 | The Software Protection Service reported that the grace period expired. | MAK |
| 0xC004F00F | The Software Licensing Server reported that the hardware ID binding is beyond level of tolerance. | MAK/KMS client/KMS host |
| 0xC004F014 | The Software Protection Service reported that the product key is not available | MAK/KMS client |
| 0xC004F02C | The Software Protection Service reported that the format for the offline activation data is incorrect. | MAK/KMS client |
| 0xC004F035 | The Software Protection Service reported that the computer could not be activated with a Volume license product key. | KMS client/KMS host |
| 0xC004F038 | The Software Protection Service reported that the computer could not be activated. The count reported by your Key Management Service (KMS) is insufficient. Please contact your system administrator. | KMS client |
| 0xC004F039 | The Software Protection Service reported that the computer could not be activated. The Key Management Service (KMS) is not enabled. | KMS client |
| 0xC004F041 | The Software Protection Service determined that the Key Management Server (KMS) is not activated. KMS needs to be activated. | KMS client |
| 0xC004F042 | The Software Protection Service determined that the specified Key Management Service (KMS) cannot be used. | KMS client |
| 0xC004F050 | The Software Protection Service reported that the product key is invalid. | MAK/KMS/KMS client |
| 0xC004F051 | The Software Protection Service reported that the product key is blocked. | MAK/KMS |
| 0xC004F064 | The Software Protection Service reported that the non-genuine grace period expired. | MAK |
| 0xC004F065 | The Software Protection Service reported that the application is running within the valid non-genuine period. | MAK/KMS client |
| 0xC004F06C | The Software Protection Service reported that the computer could not be activated. The Key Management Service (KMS) determined that the request timestamp is invalid. | KMS client |
| 0xC004F074 | The Software Protection Service reported that the computer could not be activated. No Key Management Service (KMS) could be contacted. Please see the Application Event Log for additional information. | KMS client |
Click to see the list of product keys and the list of keys available. Note that each product can only see 5 public keys.
To see the complete list of product keys, you can check out the Wiki to learn how to import and list from SQL Database.