I recently had a client needing to upgrade their existing KMS 2012 to 2022 since we recently upgraded the internal PKI. I wanted to capture the key information about KMS and the steps I used to migrate.

Key Management Services (KMS) uses a client-server model to active clients and is used for volume activation. KMS clients connect to a KMS server, called the KMS host, for activation. The KMS host must reside on a local network.

KMS hosts do not need to be dedicated servers, and KMS can be cohosted with other services. You can run a KMS host on any physical or virtual system that is running a 

 Windows Server or Windows client operating system. A KMS host running on a Windows Server operating system can activate computers running both server and client operating systems, however a KMS host running on a Windows client operating system can only activate computers also running client operating systems.

To use KMS, a KMS host needs a key that activates, or authenticates, the KMS host with Microsoft. This key is sometimes referred to as the KMS host key, but it is formally known as a Microsoft Customer Specific Volume License Key (CSVLK). You can get this key from the Product Keys section of the 

 for the following agreements: Open, Open Value, Select, Enterprise, and Services Provider License. You can also get assistance by contacting your local 

Steps on how to upgrade KMS server from Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2022.

Bennett Adelson

Active Directory (AD) is Microsoft's proprietary directory service

Active Directory

Key Management Services Upgrade

Upgraded a Windows 2012 PKI environment to new Windows 2022 Servers. This included an "offline" CA Root server and two "online" intermediary servers.

Upgraded a Windows 2012 PKI environment to new Windows 2022 Servers.

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