- Install Windows Vista Business edition using the valid product key.
- Once Windows Vista is installed, install VMWare Player or VMware Workstation.
- Download Microsoft.Windows.Vista.Local.Activation.Server-MelindaGates torrent which contains a spoofed KMS server VM image that are activated and has 41 clients connected on the KMS already to bypass the minimum clients limit from here, here or here. You will need BT client to download the VMWare image from the torrent.
- Extract the Windows Vista KMS image downloaded.
- Open to edit the file “Windows Vista (experimental).vmx” located in the extracted folder in any text editor. Add the following few lines to the configuration file:
tools.synchronize.continue=FALSE
tools.synchronize.restore=FALSE
tools.synchronize.resume.disk=FALSE
tools.synchronize.shrink=FALSE
rtc.startTime = “1164286430″
- Save the edit .vxm file and exit the text editor.
- Disconnect from Internet or unplug from the router.
- Reboot and restart the computer.
- Once computer boot up, open VMWare software you installed, and choose to open (not run) the Vista KMS server image downloaded.
- On the right side of the screen, locate the word ‘Ethernet’, and then double click on it. In the option, choose Host only. (You can select Bridged mode if you like to share the KMS server with other computers in the network for activation purpose).
- Then start the VMWare server to load the Vista KMS server.
VMWare Player loading spoofed KMS server.
- Optionally, disable Windows Firewall in Windows Vista client (your own Vista installation that need to be activated) if you facing any problem.
- In the VMWare virtual server environment, disable the KMS server firewall too, and then reboot the VMWare KMS server.
- Determine the IP address of the KMS server in VMware virtual machine, by opening command prompt and execute ‘ipconfig’. Note that the IP addresses of your Windows Vista computer and Vista KMS server have to be located on the same subnet allowed by both subnet masks (e.g 192.168.1.1 ad 192.168.1.2 with subnet mask set to 255.255.255.0). You can check if your computer is able to communicate with KMS server by pinging the IP address of the KMS server. If server is unreachable (ping lost), change the IP address of the KMS server or your Vista computer to be in the same subnet.
- Right click on Command Prompt icon and choose “Run as Admin” to open elevated command prompt.
- Key in the following command:
slmgr -skms <replaced with kms server IP address>
slmgr -ato
or (if above have problem)
cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -skms <replaced with kms server IP address>
cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -ato
- Windows Vista should be activated with visual confirmation.
- You can verify the activation with the following command at Command Prompt.
slmgr -dlv
or
cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -dlv
or
slmgr -xpr (will show permanently activated)
or
cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -xpr (will show permanently activated)
- Stop the VMWare image if you like, but remember to start the KMS server again after 6 months for re-activation.