9/8/12

H ow to use the Window s S erv er License M anager S cript - slmgr.v bs

How to use the Windows Server License Manager Script slmgr.vbs

How to use the Windows Server License Manager Script - slmgr.vbs which is used to activate your Windows Server 2008 License. Published: Nov 18, 2008 Updated: Nov 18, 2008 Section: Articles & Tutorials :: Windows Server 2008 Author: David Davis Rating: 3.9/5 - 44 Votes
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Introduction
Like it or not, Windows Server licensing is more critical than ever before with Windows Server 2008. It is important to know how to license your Windows 2008 Servers from the command line, to see how much time you have left in an eval, or uninstall licenses. In this article, you will learn how to use Microsofts command line tool for doing that slmgr.vbs.

What is slmgr.vbs?
Microsofts command line licensing tool is slmgr.vbs. The name actually stands for Windows Software Licensing Management Tool. This is a visual basic script used to configure licensing on any Windows 2008 Server either the full version or the core version. To see what slmgr.vbs can do, you can simply run a Windows command prompt (with cmd) and type: slmgr.vbs /?

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H ow to use the Window s S erv er License M anager S cript - slmgr.v bs

Figure 1: Help window for slmgr.vbs This will pop up a help window that will give you all the slmgr.vbs options. Here are the various tasks you can perform with slmgr.vbs: Manage licensing not only on the local server but also on remote Windows 2008 Servers, over the network. A username and password is required for this. The default machine to manage, if none is specified, is the localhost. Install product keys with the ipk option. Active Windows 2008 with the ato option. Display license information with the dli option. Display detailed license information with the dlv option. Show when the current Windows license will expire with the xpr option. Clear the current Windows product key from the registry for security reasons with the cpky option. Install a license with the ilc option. Reinstall system license files with the rilc option. Reactive a Windows evaluation license with the rearm option. Uninstall a certain product key with the upk option. Display your installation ID, used by Microsoft for offline (telephone) activation, with the dit option. And finally, you can active a product with the confirmation ID using the ato option. Lets see some examples of how Windows 2008 slmgr.vbs can help us.
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H ow to use the Window s S erv er License M anager S cript - slmgr.v bs

How can slmgr.vbs help with Evaluation licensing?

If you are evaluating Windows Server 2008, you should know that license activation is not required. An evaluation version of Windows Server 2008 will work for 60 days. While many admins do not know it, you can re-arm that evaluation period for another 60 days, three times over. Thus, you could evaluate Windows 2008 Server for a total of 240 days, or about 8 months wow! You can re-arm this evaluation of Windows 2008 using slmgr.vbs. To do this, just type: slmgr.vbs rearm

Figure 2: Results after rearming your Win 2008 evaluation copy for another 60 days To see how much time you have left in your current evaluation period, just type: slmgr.vbs xpr

Figure 3: Results of xpr command, showing the date and time that the license grace period for Win 2008 expires In fact, Microsoft even has an interesting knowledgebase document on how to automatically extend the evaluation of licensing with a script. By implementing this script, you could use Windows Server 2008 for the full 240 days without having to do anything. For more information on that, please see Microsoft KB 948472.

How do I get detailed information on my Windows Server 2008 license?

To get more detailed information than just the expiration date (given by the xpr command), you can use the dli or dlv options. Here is what their output looks like:

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H ow to use the Window s S erv er License M anager S cript - slmgr.v bs

Figure 4: slmgr.vbs dli output showing license information As you can see in the dli option output, there is more information on the version of Win 2008 you are running, the license status, time renaming (down to the second), and all about the key management server.

Figure 5: slmgr.vbs dlv output showing detailed license information With the dlv option, there is even more detailed information about the current state of your licenses.

How can I activate my license in Windows 2008 Server Core?

As I mentioned above, when I listed out the options, slmgr.vbs is used to activate Windows 2008 Server at the command line. Now in Windows Server Core, with only a command prompt, you are forced to use slmgr.vbs to activate your Core server from the command line. Thus, it is much more critical to know how to use slmgr.vbs if you are using Windows Server Core. Still, every Admin, in my opinion, should know the basics of using it.
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H ow to use the Window s S erv er License M anager S cript - slmgr.v bs

So, say that you are on your new Windows Server 2008 Core server and you want to activate it. Lets assume that you entered a product key during the installation process. To activate your OS, just type: slmgr.vbs ato If you do not have networking configured, or you get another error, you will get a window that says something like this:

Figure 6: Error from slmgr license activation In my case, I received this error because I had not yet configured an IP address on the Win 2008 Core Server. And, I received the error again because I did not have DNS and a default gateway configured. Keep in mind that all of these things are necessary for a successful activation of Windows 2008! If you did not enter a product key during the install process, you can enter one with slmgr.vbs at the command line with: slmgr.vbs ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX (assuming you have a MAK key, not a KMS key) From there, you can attempt the auto activation again.

Figure 7: Successful activation of Windows 2008 with slmgr.vbs If you are successful (as I finally was), you should see the product activated successfully window, as you see in Figure 7. Hoorah!

How do I administer licensing of a remote Windows 2008 Server using slmgr.vbs?

As I mentioned above, you can administer not only local servers but also remote Win 2008 Servers from the command line, using slmgr.vbs. You just need the server hostname/IP address as well as the administrator username and password. To do this, just place the machinename, then username, and then the password between the slmgr command and the options, like this: slmgr.vbs server2 administrator MyPassWord1 -xpr Note:
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H ow to use the Window s S erv er License M anager S cript - slmgr.v bs

You do not have to use the .vbs extension on the slmgr command. It will work just fine if you type slmgr and your command options.

Summary
ad vert i s em en t

Windows Server licensing is critical to your Windows 2008 Server functioning, or not functioning. In this article, you saw how to use Microsofts Software Licensing Management Tool slmgr.vbs to manage your Windows Server licenses from the command line. While there are a number of applications for slmgr.vbs, after reading this article I know that the next time you are at a command prompt of a Win 2008 Core Server with an expired license, you will know exactly what to do.
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Comment using... Friday Ekpo i have a server machine running windows 2008 server, but i can't seem to activate the OS. each time i tried to activate, the activation screen does not appear on screen for me to either activate online or via phone call. what can i do. Reply Like 19 March at 08:48
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About David Davis

David Davis has served as an IT Manager for over 15 years. He has a number of certifications including CCIE #9369, MCSE, CISSP, & VCP. Additionally, David has authored over one hundred articles, a number of video training courses including Windows XP, Wireless Networking, Linux Administration, ISA Server, A+ Certification, Microsoft Virtual Server, VMware Server & Workstation, & VMware ESX Server. David publishes Cisco Networking how-to articles & videos at his website, HappyRouter.com. Click here for David Davis's section.
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H ow to use the Window s S erv er License M anager S cript - slmgr.v bs

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