windows server 2012 r2

KMS Activating Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2

Richard Green on

With each new release of Windows client and server operating systems nowadays, comes an update required to allow your on premise KMS host to activate those new operating system servers and clients using volume license activation.

After the general availability on Windows 8.1 Enterprise client and Windows Server 2012 R2, Microsoft released the update for KMS host for Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2 and 2012 to allow these down level operating systems to activate the latest and greatest.

You can get the download for the update from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2885698. Installation of the update requires a KMS Host restart and you will need to obtain a new KMS Host key from your Microsoft Volume License Center account. Instructions for applying the new key with slmgr.vbs is given on the link above.

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 use the KMS Client key by default after installation so you shouldn’t need to change anything to get your clients activated, but in case you need them, the KMS Client keys for all operating systems supporting KMS are available from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx.

November 2013 Rollup Update for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2

Richard Green on

Microsoft have today released KB2887595 which is a 199.7 MB rollup update for Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 RT and Windows Server 2012 R2.

You can see the release notes for the update and the updates included within it at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2887595. The update looks tasty including one update which sounds of interest for users of roaming profiles which addresses incompatibility issues between profiles initially created on earlier versions of Windows (KB 2890783 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2890783).

Although not explicitly mentioned in the notes, it will be interesting to see if the hang issues some people (including myself) have been experiencing with Internet Explorer 11 are resolved?

Windows 8.1 GA Update and Update Rollup Release

Richard Green on

I got home from the second day of my PRINCE2 training today and fired up my desktop PC from sleep and tried to log in to Windows 8.1. My home domain user account was still logged in from the previous night with a locked session so I unlocked it however it hung on the please wait message. After a few minutes, I’d had enough to gave the PC the finger of death and restarted it.

When it booted back up, I saw the Configuring Windows Updates message appear. I’ve got an Intel 520 Series SSD so I normally don’t have to wait at all for things like Windows Updates being that the overall boot time for the PC from a cold start is about 15 seconds. On this occasion though, the PC reboot at least three or four times with the Configuring Windows Updates message each time.

I was worried initially that I’d got myself a bad update download and I was going to be stuck in a reboot update loop (not that I’ve seen this happen for a long time) but eventually the machine came back to the login screen as normal. Once I got logged in, I checked the update history for Windows Update and the PC had prepared and downloaded two major updates last night. The first being Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 General Availability Update Rollup, KB2883200 and the second being Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Update Rollup: October 2013, KB2884846.

Looking at the file information in both of these updates, they look like pretty substantial updates which you’re obviously going to want to apply but be patient. With updates of this size and type, you could end up seeing your PC reboot multiple times like I did. Have faith – It’s all working just fine.

If you’re deploying these updates at work or in your enterprise, make sure you’re users know to expect the multiple reboots otherwise your helpdesk team might not like you the next day.