Volume Activation Updated for Windows 8 and Office 2013

Activation, which limits software piracy by associating a valid product license key with a software product to reduce illegal software copying, is being updated to accommodate new versions of Windows and Office. Volume licensing customers with an existing Key Management Service (KMS) infrastructure need to update it before it can activate these new versions. Although updating the existing activation infrastructure is relatively simple, organizations need to be aware of subtle changes to the activation process, such as the embedding of a license key in a computer’s firmware during manufacture, and a new activation option based on Active Directory (AD).

New Products Trigger Some Activation Changes

To accommodate the various ways that customers acquire and license its products, Microsoft supports a number of activation methods to perform and manage activation, and with the releases of Windows 8, Office 2013, and Windows Server 2012, Microsoft has updated its activation technologies to version 3.0. (For a summary, see the chart “Activation 3.0 Methods“.) Because most large organizations already deploy large numbers of computers with versions of Windows and Office that require activation, they have already implemented a combination of Volume Activation methods, including both KMS and Multiple Activation Key (MAK) activation, particularly if they reimage computers purchased from an OEM with a standard corporate image.