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.

              If vlmcsd is compiled to use MS RPC, -o2  can  only  offer  very
              poor  protection.  Control is passed from MS RPC to vlmcsd after
              the KMS protocol has already been negotiated. Thus a client  can
              always  verify that the KMS protocol is available even though it
              receives an RPC_S_ACCESS_DENIED error message. vlmcsd will issue
              a  warning  if -o2 is used with MS RPC. For adaequate protection
              do not use a MS RPC build of vlmcsd with -o2.

              -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 ePID (including Project and Visio). If
              specified, -r is disregarded for Office 2013.


       -6 ePID
              Use ePID as Office 2016 ePID (including Project and  Visio).  If
              specified, -r is disregarded for Office 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 an ePID 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
              almost identically to -r2. The only exception occurs if you send
              more than one activation request over the same  TCP  connection.
              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. Consider using -r0 or -w, -0, -3 and -6 when start‐
              ing vlmcsd by an internet superserver.

              -r2 behaves like most other KMS  server  emulators  with  random
              support  and  generates  a new random ePID on every request. -r2
              should be treated as debugging option  only  because  it  allows
              very easy emulator detection.


       -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 (up to 1607),
       Windows  Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Win‐
       dows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Office  2010,  Project  2010,
       Visio 2010, Office 2013, Project 2013, Visio 2013, Office 2016, Project
       2016, Visio 2016. Newer version may work as long as  the  KMS  protocol
       does  not  change.  A  complete list of fully supported products can be
       obtained using the -x option of vlmcs(1).

       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.


INTENTIONAL BUGS
       vlmcsd activates non-VL (retail) and beta/preview versions of Windows.
       vlmcsd always reports enough active clients to satisfy the N count pol‐
       icy of the request.


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                       September 2016                       VLMCSD(8)
