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Setting up an Office 2010 KMS Host Server

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This morning was quiet in the office so I decided to tackle adding Office 2010 to my Microsoft Deployment Toolkit installation.

I’ll cover off how you do the add and the options in another post but in order to activate Office 2010, you have two options now; KMS or MAK. Microsoft has moved the licensing of Office to be like that of Windows 7. Makes plenty of sense, but how do you set up your infrastructure so you can activate Office 2010?

I already have a Windows 2008 R2 Server acting as my KMS Host for Windows activations so I used that server. Don’t have a KMS Host for activating Windows 7 or Vista yet, check my post on setting up a . If you just want to use KMS for Office 2010, then that is fine too. You need to head to and download Microsoft Office 2010 KMS Host software. I chose to run it on my existing KMS Server, but if you don’t yet have a KMS Server, the machine you run this on will become your KMS Host for Office 2010.

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Accept the EULA and click continue and it will install.

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Once the file runs, it will ask you for you KMS Key for Office 2010.

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Click Yes and enter the key.

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It will then return whether it was successful or not.

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That is all there is to it.

Once you start installing Office 2010, the KMS activation key is already defaulted in the installation. The installation will search out your KMS host server. If everything is working properly on the DNS side, then it should activate and you will be off to the races.

If you get stuck, here are some other resources:

Get on the Bus Tour – Montreal

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100_0695I had a chance last week to head up to Montreal and check out and help out at the Get on the Bus tour being sponsored by Microsoft.

The event started for us at 8:00am, which for me meant a 3:30am start from Kingston. I drove to Brockville and picked up David Myers and the two of us headed to Montreal. Thank goodness David picked up coffee for the ride. We arrived at the venue around 8:15 and were put to work guiding people. David and I had emailed the organizers and offered our assistance. As a leader of a user group in Kingston, I know it never hurts to have extra hands helping out.

I finished up guiding people and arrived into the theatre at around 9:20 and the Keynote was in full swing. One of the many technologies I perked up for was the Intune beta that is running right now.  For a small to medium sized business, it has great promise to help you manage your environment.

After the keynote, Office 2010 was covered off and we were presented some of the features of using Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010 in the cloud. It definitely got me thinking on how I could use this in my environment at work; it will make life easier.

After this session Daniel Nerenberg came up and talked about App-V and Med-V. Both are virtualization technologies but very different. I will try to explain at a very high level. App-V virtualizes apps, Med-V virtualizes a Windows XP operating system which can be managed centrally.

After Daniel, Stephen Rose came up and talked about Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1. Stephen is a high energy speaker and you could really feel the energy in room  climb as he spoke. It was a great overview of the capabilities of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. It also showed that there are FREE tools available to help make your life easier.

After Stephen’s session, there was an Ask the Experts session. This is a photo from the session (the room was dark, so this was about the best shot I could get.)

It was well worth the time to drive up to Montreal and check out the tour. The sessions are great and if you haven’t seen Office 2010 or MDT 2010, be prepared to be awed. If the tour is coming to your neck of the woods, be sure to get out and check out the event.

Tools and information can be found, starting at the Microsoft Springboard Site,  www.microsoft.com/springboard

Media Center, Windows 7 and a Xbox360

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Ottawa’s Code Camp ran April 17th this year. I was lucky enough to be selected to make a presentation on Windows 7 Media Center, recording TV using an antenna and using the Xbox as a media extender. It is probably one of my favourite presentations so far to date.

Why? Even though it was probably one of the least technical session I have done to date ; I find it very interesting and something I have been tinkering with since Christmas.

I’ll post more details in future posts but in a nutshell here is what I have.

  • USB TV tuner that records ATSC digital
  • Windows 7 PC with Media Center and a 1.5TB hard drive
  • Xbox360 connected to the TV
  • Xbox360 remote control

The computer records TV from the antenna using the ATSC tuner. ATSC is completely digital, making the picture look great, no snow or ghosting. Files are big, 5gb per hour when recorded in HD. From there they sit on my computer. When I want to watch my show, I turn on the Xbox, hit the green button on the remote and then head to recorded TV. I then select what I want to watch and presto, I can watch my show. I can pause, fast forward and rewind, no problem.

The best part about it is that it is easy for Tracey to operate. She can setup shows to record and watch her shows with relative ease.

She said last night to me as she was watching a recorded show from the weekend, “I love the Xbox”.

For me, I love how easy it was to get everything setup. There is a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes, that once setup, that she doesn’t have to know or care about for her to watch her favourite shows.