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Key Management Service (KMS) licensing allows specific versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft office clients to be activated under Â鶹´«Ã½'s licensing agreement with Microsoft Corporation. KMS is Microsoft's solution to better manage and disperse our software licenses to only those individuals covered under our campus license agreement.

With KMS, there is no longer a need to enter a product key when installing newer versions of Windows or Office on a Windows-based computer, as long as the computer is connected to the AU network. During the installation of a KMS compatible product, the software should activate automatically as long as it can communicate with the KMS server (in some OS installation cases, you must still launch the license wizard, leave the license key fields blank, and choose next). No additional steps are necessary.

Please note: KMS activated software attempts to check in with the KMS server around once a week. Once the software successfully connects to the KMS server, it is activated for 180 days (around 6 months). This will be seamless if you are connected to the AU network, but off campus users will need to log into the VPN every so often to complete this check in process. If 180 days pass without the software being able to connect to the KMS server, the software will enter a 30 day grace period and display a warning message that it needs to be activated.