VLMCSD(8)                    KMS Activation Manual                   VLMCSD(8)



NAME
       vlmcsd - a fully Microsoft compatible KMS server


SYNOPSIS
       vlmcsd [ options ]


DESCRIPTION
       vlmcsd is a fully Microsoft compatible KMS server that provides product
       activation services to clients. It is meant as  a  drop-in  replacement
       for  a Microsoft KMS server (Windows computer with KMS key entered). It
       currently supports KMS protocol versions 4, 5 and 6.

       vlmcsd is designed to run on POSIX  compatible  operating  systens.  It
       only requires a basic C library with a BSD-style sockets API and either
       fork(2) or pthreads(7). That allows it to run on most embedded  systems
       like  routers,  NASes,  mobile phones, tablets, TVs, settop boxes, etc.
       Some efforts have been made that it also runs on Windows.

       Although vlmcsd does neither require an activation key nor a payment to
       anyone,  it  is not meant to run illegal copies of Windows. Its purpose
       is to ensure that owners of legal copies can use their software without
       restrictions,  e.g.  if  you buy a new computer or motherboard and your
       key will be refused activation from Microsoft servers due  to  hardware
       changes.

       vlmcsd  may  be  started  via  an internet superserver like inetd(8) or
       xinetd(8) as well  as  an  advanced  init  system  like  systemd(8)  or
       launchd(8)  using  socket  based  activation.  If  vlmcsd  detects that
       stdin(3) is a socket, it assumes that  there  is  already  a  connected
       client  on  stdin  that wants to be activated. All options that control
       setting up listening sockets will be ignored when in inetd mode.


OPTIONS
       Since vlmcsd can be configured at compile time, some options may not be
       available on your system.

       All  options that do no require an argument may be combined with a sin‐
       gle dash, for instance "vlmcsd -D -e" is identical to "vlmcsd -De". For
       all options that require an argument a space between the option and the
       option argument is optional. Thus "vlmcsd -r 2" and  "vlmcsd  -r2"  are
       identical too.


       -h or -?
              Displays help.


       -V     Displays  extended  version  information. This includes the com‐
              piler used to build vlmcsd,  the  intended  platform  and  flags
              (compile  time  options) to build vlmcsd. If you have the source
              code of vlmcsd, you can type make help (or gmake help on systems
              that  do  not  use the GNU version of make(1) by default) to see
              the meaning of those flags.


       -L ipaddress[:port]
              Instructs vlmcsd to  listen  on  ipaddress  with  optional  port
              (default  1688).  You can use this option more than once. If you
              do not specify -L at least once, IP addresses 0.0.0.0 (IPv4) and
              :: (IPv6) are used. If the IP address contains colons (IPv6) you
              must enclose the IP address  in  brackets  if  you  specify  the
              optional port, e.g. [2001:db8::dead:beef]:1688.

              If  no port is specified, vlmcsd uses the default port according
              to a preceding -P option. If you specify a port,  it  can  be  a
              number  (1-65535)  or  a name (usually found in /etc/services if
              not provided via LDAP, NIS+ or another name service).

              If you specify a link local  IPv6  address  (fe80::/10,  usually
              starting with fe80::), it must be followed by a percent sign (%)
              and a scope id (=network  interface  name  or  number)  on  most
              unixoid  OSses  including  Linux, Android, MacOS X and iOS, e.g.
              fe80::1234:56ff:fe78:9abc%eth0                                or
              [fe80::1234:56ff:fe78:9abc%2]:1688.  Windows  (including cygwin)
              does not require a scope id unless the same link  local  address
              is  used  on  more  than one network interface. Windows does not
              accept a name and the scope id must be a number.


       -o level
              Sets the level of protection against activations from public  IP
              addresses. The default is -o0 for no protection.

              -o1  causes vlmcsd not to listen on all IP addresses but on pri‐
              vate IP addresses only.  IPv4  addresses  in  the  100.64.0.0/10
              range (see RFC6598) are not treated as private since they can be
              reached from other users of your ISP. Private IPv4 addresses are
              10.0.0.0/8,  172.16.0.0/12,  192.168.0.0/16,  169.254.0.0/16 and
              127.0.0.0/8.  vlmcsd  treats  all  IPv6  addresses  not   within
              2000::/3 as private addresses.

              If  -o1  is  combined  with -L, it will listen on all private IP
              addresses plus the ones specified by one or more -L  statements.
              If  -o1  is combined with -P, only the last -P statement will be
              used.

              Using -o1 does not protect you if you enable NAT port forwarding
              on  your router to your vlmcsd machine. It is identical to using
              multiple -L statements with all of your  private  IP  addresses.
              What -o1 does for you, is automatically enumerating your private
              IP addresses.

              -o2 does not affect the interfaces, vlmcsd is listening on. When
              a  clients  connects, vlmcsd immediately drops the connection if
              the client has a public IP address. Unlike -o1 clients  will  be
              able to establish a TCP connection but it will be closed without
              a single byte sent over the connection.  This  protects  against
              clients  with public IP addresses even if NAT port forwarding is
              used. While -o2 offers a higher level of  protection  than  -o1,
              the client sees that the KMS TCP port (1688 by default) is actu‐
              ally accepting connections.

              -o3 combines -o1 and -o2. vlmcsd listens on  private  interfaces
              only and if a public client manages to connect anyway due to NAT
              port forwarding, it will be immediately dropped.

              If you use any form of TCP level port  forwarding  (e.g.  nc(1),
              netcat(1),  ssh(1)  port  forwarding or similar) to redirect KMS
              requests to vlmcsd, there will be no protection even if you  use
              -o2  or -o3. This is due to the simple fact that vlmcsd sees the
              IP address of the redirector and  not  the  IP  address  of  the
              client.

              -o1 (and thus -o3) is not (yet) available in some scenarios:

                   FreeBSD: There is a longtime unfixed bug ⟨https://
                   bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=178881⟩  in   the
                   32-bit ABI of the 64-bit kernel. If you have a 64-bit Free‐
                   BSD kernel, you must run the 64-bit version  of  vlmcsd  if
                   you  use  -o1  or  -o3. The 32-bit version causes undefined
                   behavior up to crashing vlmcsd. Other BSDs  (NetBSD,  Open‐
                   BSD, Dragonfly and Mac OS X) work correctly.

                   If  vlmcsd  was  started  by an internet superserver or was
                   compiled to use Microsoft  RPC  (Windows  only)  or  simple
                   sockets, -o1 and -o3 are not available by design.


       -P port
              Use  TCP  port  for  all  subsequent  -L  statements that do not
              include an optional port. If you use -P and -L, -P must be spec‐
              ified before -L.


       -F0 and -F1
              Allow  (-F1)  or disallow (-F0) binding to IP addresses that are
              currently not configured on your system. The default is -F0. -F1
              allows you to bind to an IP address that may be configured after
              you started vlmcsd. vlmcsd will listen on that address  as  soon
              as  it  becomes  available. This feature is only available under
              Linux (IPv4 and IPv6) and FreeBSD (IPv4  only).  FreeBSD  allows
              this  feature  only for the root user (more correctly: processes
              that have the PRIV_NETINET_BINDANY privilege).  Linux  does  not
              require a capability for this.


       -t seconds
              Timeout  the  TCP  connection with the client after seconds sec‐
              onds. After sending an activation request.  RPC  keeps  the  TCP
              connection for a while. The default is 30 seconds. You may spec‐
              ify a shorter period to free ressources on your  device  faster.
              This  is  useful  for devices with limited main memory or if you
              used -m to limit the concurrent clients that may request activa‐
              tion.  Microsoft  RPC  clients  disconnect  after  30 seconds by
              default. Setting seconds to a greater value does not  make  much
              sense.


       -m concurrent-clients
              Limit  the  number of clients that will be handled concurrently.
              This is useful for devices with limited ressources or if you are
              experiencing  DoS  attacks  that  spawn  thousands of threads or
              forked processes. If additional clients connect to vlmcsd,  they
              need  to  wait until another client disconnects. If you set con‐
              current-clients to a small value ( <10 ), you should also select
              a  reasonable  timeout of 2 or 3 seconds with -t. The default is
              no limit.


       -d     Disconnect each client after processing one activation  request.
              This  is  a  direct  violation  of  DCE  RPC but may help if you
              receive malicous fake RPC requests that block  your  threads  or
              forked  processes. Some other KMS emulators (e.g. py-kms) behave
              this way.


       -k     Do  not  disconnect  clients  after  processing  an   activation
              request. This selects the default behavior. -k is useful only if
              you used an ini file (see vlmcsd.ini(5) and -i). If the ini file
              contains the line "DisconnectClientsImmediately = true", you can
              use this switch to restore the default behavior.


       -N0 and -N1
              Disables (-N0) or enables (-N1) the use of  the  NDR64  transfer
              syntax  in  the  RPC  protocol. Unlike Microsoft vlmcsd supports
              NDR64 on 32-bit operating systems. Microsoft introduced NDR64 in
              Windows  Vista  but their KMS servers started using it with Win‐
              dows 8. Thus if you choose  random  ePIDs,  vlmcsd  will  select
              ePIDs  with  build numbers 9200 and 9600 if you enable NDR64 and
              build numbers 6002 and 7601 if you disable NDR64. The default is
              to enable NDR64.


       -B0 and -B1
              Disables  (-B0)  or  enables (-B1) bind time feature negotiation
              (BTFN) in the RPC protocol. All Windows operating systems start‐
              ing  with Vista support BTFN and try to negotiate it when initi‐
              ating an RPC connection. Thus consider turning it off as a debug
              / troubleshooting feature only. Some older firewalls that selec‐
              tively block or redirect RPC traffic may get confused when  they
              detect NDR64 or BTFN.


       -l filename
              Use filename as a log file. The log file records all activations
              with IP  address,  Windows  workstation  name  (no  reverse  DNS
              lookup),  activated product, KMS protocol, time and date. If you
              do not specify a log file, no log is created. For a live view of
              the log file type tail -f file.

              If  you use the special filename "syslog", vlmcsd uses syslog(3)
              for logging. If your system has  no  syslog  service  (/dev/log)
              installed,  logging  output will go to /dev/console. Syslog log‐
              ging is not available in the native Windows version. The  Cygwin
              version does support syslog logging.


       -T0 and -T1
              Disable  (-T0) or enable (-T1) the inclusion of date and time in
              each line of the log. The default is -T1. -T0 is useful  if  you
              log  to  stdout(3) which is redirected to another logging mecha‐
              nism that already includes date and  time  in  its  output,  for
              instance  systemd-journald(8).  If  you log to syslog(3), -T1 is
              ignored and date and time will never be included in  the  output
              sent to syslog(3).


       -D     Normally  vlmcsd  daemonizes  and runs in background (except the
              native Windows version). If -D is  specified,  vlmcsd  does  not
              daemonize and runs in foreground. This is useful for testing and
              allows you to simply press <Ctrl-C> to exit vlmcsd.

              The native Windows version never daemonizes and  always  behaves
              as if -D had been specified. You may want to install vlmcsd as a
              service instead. See -s.


       -e     If specified, vlmcsd ignores -l and writes all logging output to
              stdout(3).  This  is mainly useful for testing and debugging and
              often combined with -D.


       -v     Use verbose logging. Logs every parameter of  the  base  request
              and  the  base response. It also logs the HWID of the KMS server
              if KMS protocol version 6 is used. This  option  is  mainly  for
              debugging  purposes.  It only has an effect if some form of log‐
              ging is used. Thus -v does not make sense if not used  with  -l,
              -e or -f.


       -q     Do  not use verbose logging. This is actually the default behav‐
              ior. It only makes sense if you use vlmcsd with an ini file (see
              -i  and  vlmcsd.ini(5)).  If  the  ini  file  contains  the line
              "LogVerbose = true" you can use -q to restore the default behav‐
              ior.


       -p filename
              Create pid file filename. This has nothing to do with KMS ePIDs.
              A pid file is a file where vlmcsd writes  its  own  process  id.
              This  is  used  by  standard  init  scripts  (typically found in
              /etc/init.d). The default is not to write a pid file.


       -u user and -g group
              Causes vlmcsd to run in the specified user  and  group  security
              context.  The  main  purpose for this is to drop root privileges
              after it has been started from the root  account.  To  use  this
              feature  from  cygwin you must run cyglsa-config and the account
              from which vlmcsd is started must have the rights "Act  as  part
              of  the  operating  system" and "Replace a process level token".
              The native Windows version does not support these options.

              The actual security context switch is performed  after  the  TCP
              sockets  have  been  created.  This allows you to use privileged
              ports (< 1024) when you start vlmcsd from the root account.

              However if you use an ini, pid or log file, you must ensure that
              the  unprivileged user has access to these files. You can always
              log to syslog(3) from an unprivileged account on most  platforms
              (see -l).


       -w ePID
              Use  ePID  as  Windows ePID. If specified, -r is disregarded for
              Windows.


       -0 ePID
              Use ePID as Office 2010 ePID (including Project and  Visio).  If
              specified, -r is disregarded for Office 2010.


       -3 ePID
              Use ePID as Office 2013/2016 ePID (including Project and Visio).
              If specified, -r is disregarded for Office 2013/2016.


       -H HwId
              Use HwId for all products. All HWIDs in the ini  file  (see  -i)
              will not be used. In an ini file you can specify a seperate HWID
              for each application-guid. This is not possible when entering  a
              HWID from the command line.

              HwId  must be specified as 16 hex digits that are interpreted as
              a series of 8 bytes (big endian). Any character that  is  not  a
              hex  digit  will be ignored. This is for better readability. The
              following commands are identical:

              vlmcsd -H 0123456789ABCDEF
              vlmcsd -H 01:23:45:67:89:ab:cd:ef
              vlmcsd -H "01 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF"


       -i filename
              Use configuration file (aka ini file) filename. Most  configura‐
              tion parameters can be set either via the command line or an ini
              file. The command line always has precedence over  configuration
              items  in  the ini file. See vlmcsd.ini(5) for the format of the
              configuration file.

              If vlmcsd has been compiled to use a default configuration  file
              (often  /etc/vlmcsd.ini),  you may use -i- to ignore the default
              configuration file.


       -r0, -r1 (default) and -r2
              These options determine how ePIDs are generated if

              - you did not sprecify an ePID in the command line and
              - you haven't used -i or
              - the file specified by -i cannot be opened or
              - the file specified by -i does not contain the application-guid
              for the KMS request

              -r0  means  there  are  no  random  ePIDs.  vlmcsd simply issues
              default ePIDs that are built into the binary  at  compile  time.
              Pro:  behaves  like  real KMS server that also always issues the
              same ePID. Con: Microsoft may start blacklisting again  and  the
              default ePID may not work any longer.

              -r1  instructs  vlmcsd to generate random ePIDs when the program
              starts or receives a SIGHUP signal and uses these ePIDs until it
              is  stopped or receives another SIGHUP. Most other KMS emulators
              generate a new  ePID  on  every  KMS  request.  This  is  easily
              detectable. Microsoft could just modify sppsvc.exe in a way that
              it always sends two identical KMS requests in two  RPC  requests
              but  over the same TCP connection. If both KMS responses contain
              the different ePIDs, the KMS server is not genuine. -r1  is  the
              default  mode.  -r1  also ensures that all three ePIDs (Windows,
              Office 2010 and Office 2013) use the same OS  build  number  and
              LCID (language id).

              If vlmcsd has been started by an internet superserver, -r1 works
              identically to -r2. This is simply due to the fact  that  vlmcsd
              is started upon a connection request and does not stay in memory
              after servicing a KMS request.

              -r2 behaves like most other KMS  server  emulators  with  random
              support  and  generates  a new random ePID on every request. Use
              this mode with "care". However since  Microsoft  currently  does
              not seem to do any verification of the ePID, you currently don't
              need to pay attention to ePIDs at all.


       -C LCID
              Do not randomize the locale id part of the  ePID  and  use  LCID
              instead.  The  LCID  must be specified as a decimal number, e.g.
              1049 for "Russian - Russia". This option has no  effect  if  the
              ePID  is  not randomized at all, e.g. if it is selected from the
              command line or an ini file.

              By default vlmcsd generates a valid locale id that is recognized
              by  .NET  Framework  4.0.  This may lead to a locale id which is
              unlikely to occur in your country, for instance 2155 for "Quecha
              - Ecuador". You may want to select the locale id of your country
              instead. See MSDN ⟨http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/
              bb964664.aspx⟩  for a list of valid LCIDs. Please note that some
              of them are not recognized by .NET Framework 4.0.

              Most other KMS emulators use a fixed LCID  of  1033  (English  -
              US). To achive the same behavior in vlmcsd use -C 1033.


       -R renewal-interval
              Instructs  clients  to  renew activation every renewal-interval.
              The renewal-interval is a number optionally immediately followed
              by  a letter indicating the unit. Valid unit letters are s (sec‐
              onds), m (minutes), h (hours), d (days) and w (weeks). If you do
              not specify a letter, minutes is assumed.

              -R3d  for instance instructs clients to renew activation every 3
              days. The default renewal-interval is 10080 (identical to 7d and
              1w).

              Due to poor implementation of Microsofts KMS Client it cannot be
              guaranteed that activation is renewed on time as specfied by the
              -R  option.  Don't  care  about  that.  Renewal will happen well
              before your activation expires (usually 180 days).

              Even though you can specify seconds,  the  granularity  of  this
              option  is 1 minute. Seconds are rounded down to the next multi‐
              ple of 60.


       -A activation-interval
              Instructs clients to retry activation every  activation-interval
              if  it  was  unsuccessful,  e.g.  because it could not reach the
              server. The default is 120 (identical to 2h).  activation-inter‐
              val  follows  the  same  syntax  as  renewal-interval  in the -R
              option.


       -s     Installs vlmcsd as a Windows service.  This  option  only  works
              with  the  native  Windows  version  and Cygwin. Combine -s with
              other command line options. These will be  in  effect  when  you
              start  the  service.  The  service automatically starts when you
              reboot your machine. To start it manually, type "net start  vlm‐
              csd".

              If  you  use  Cygwin,  you  must  include your Cygwin system DLL
              directory (usually C:\Cygwin\bin or  C:\Cygwin64\bin)  into  the
              PATH environment variable or the service will not start.

              You  can  reinstall  the  service anytime using vlmcsd -s again,
              e.g. with a different command line. If the service  is  running,
              it will be restarted with the new command line.

              When  using  -s  the  command  line  is checked for basic syntax
              errors only. For example "vlmcsd -s -L 1.2.3.4" reports no error
              but  the  service will not start if 1.2.3.4 is not an IP address
              on your system.


       -S     Uninstalls the vlmcsd service. Works only with the  native  Win‐
              dows  version  and  Cygwin. All other options will be ignored if
              you include -S in the command line.


       -U [domain\]username
              Can only be used together with -s. Starts the service as a  dif‐
              ferent  user  than the local SYSTEM account. This is used to run
              the service under an account with low privileges.  If  you  omit
              the domain, an account from the local computer will be used.

              You may use "NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService". This is a pseudo user
              with low privileges. You may also  use  "NT  AUTHORITY\LocalSer‐
              vice" which has more privileges but these are of no use for run‐
              ning vlmcsd.

              Make sure that the user you specify has at least execute permis‐
              sion for your executable. "NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService" normally
              has no permission to run binaries from your home directory.

              For your convenience you can use the special username "/l" as  a
              shortcut  for  "NT  AUTHORITY\LocalService"  and  "/n"  for  "NT
              AUTHORITY\NetworkService". "vlmcsd -s -U /n" installs  the  ser‐
              vice to run as "NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService".


       -W password
              Can  only be used together with -s. Specifies a password for the
              corresponding username you use  with  -U.  SYSTEM,  "NT  AUTHOR‐
              ITY\NetworkService",  "NT AUTHORITY\LocalService" do not require
              a password.

              If you specify a  user  with  even  lower  privileges  than  "NT
              AUTHORITY\NetworkService",  you  must  specify its password. You
              also have to grant the "Log on as a service" right to that user.


SIGNALS
       The following signals differ from the default behavior:


       SIGTERM, SIGINT
              These signals cause vlmcsd to exit gracefully. All global  sema‐
              phores  and  shared  memory pages will be released, the pid file
              will be unlinked  (deleted)  and  a  shutdown  message  will  be
              logged.


       SIGHUP Causes  vlmcsd to be restarted completely. This is useful if you
              started vlmcsd with an ini file. You can  modify  the  ini  file
              while  vlmcsd is running and then sending SIGHUP, e.g. by typing
              "killall -SIGHUP vlmcsd" or  "kill  -SIGHUP  `cat  /var/run/vlm‐
              csd.pid`".

              The SIGHUP handler has been implemented relatively simple. It is
              virtually the same as stopping  vlmcsd  and  starting  it  again
              immediately with the following exceptions:


              —  The new process does not get a new process id.

              —  If  you  used  a  pid  file,  it is not deleted and recreated
                 because the process id stays the same.

              —  If you used the 'user' and/or 'group'  directive  in  an  ini
                 file  these are ignored. This is because once you switched to
                 lower privileged users and groups, there is no way back. Any‐
                 thing else would be a severe security flaw in the OS.

       Signaling  is  not  available  in the native Windows version and in the
       Cygwin version when it runs as Windows service.


SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS
       vlmcsd compiles and runs on Linux,  Windows  (no  Cygwin  required  but
       explicitly  supported),  Mac  OS X, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Dragonfly
       BSD, Minix, Solaris, OpenIndiana,  Android  and  iOS.  Other  POSIX  or
       unixoid  OSses  may  work  with unmodified sources or may require minor
       porting efforts.


SUPPORTED PRODUCTS
       vlmcsd can answer activation requests for the following products:  Win‐
       dows  Vista,  Windows  7,  Windows  8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows
       Server 2008, Windows Server  2008  R2,  Windows  Server  2012,  Windows
       Server  2012  R2,  Office  2010, Project 2010, Visio 2010, Office 2013,
       Project 2013, Visio 2013, Office 2016, Project 2016, Visio 2016.

       Office, Project and Visio must be volume license versions.


FILES
       vlmcsd.ini(5)


EXAMPLES
       vlmcsd -De
              Starts vlmcsd in foreground. Useful if you use it for the  first
              time  and  want  to  see what's happening when a client requests
              activation.


       vlmcsd -l /var/log/vlmcsd.log
              Starts vlmcsd as a daemon and logs everything  to  /var/log/vlm‐
              csd.log.


       vlmcsd -L 192.168.1.17
              Starts vlmcsd as a daemon and listens on IP address 192.168.1.17
              only. This is useful for routers that have a public and  a  pri‐
              vate IP address to prevent your KMS server from becoming public.


       vlmcsd -s -U /n -l C:\logs\vlmcsd.log
              Installs  vlmcsd  as  a  Windows service with low privileges and
              logs  everything  to  C:\logs\vlmcsd.log  when  the  service  is
              started with "net start vlmcsd".


BUGS
       An ePID specified in an ini file must not contain spaces.

       The  maximum  number of -L options in the command line or listen state‐
       ments in the inifile is the platform default for FD_SETSIZE. This is 64
       on Windows and 1024 on most Unixes.


AUTHOR
       Written  by  crony12, Hotbird64 and vityan666.  With contributions from
       DougQaid.


CREDITS
       Thanks to CODYQX4, deagles, eIcn,  mikmik38,  nosferati87,  qad,  Rati‐
       borus, ...


SEE ALSO
       vlmcsd.ini(5), vlmcsd(7), vlmcs(1), vlmcsdmulti(1)



Hotbird64                          July 2016                         VLMCSD(8)
