Windows Server licensed istances on AWS are activating on ADBA instead of AWS KMS

Question

Hi,
in our customer infrastructure we have some aws ec2 with windows server license provided by AWS.
When you buy a win istance licensed by AWS the configuration is set by the ssm agent and the license is activated with the AWS KMS server, as you can see below:

Get-CimInstance SoftwareLicensingProduct -Filter "partialproductkey is not null" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -ComputerName $computer.Name | ? name -like windows*
LicenseFamily: ServerDatacenter
LicenseStatus: 1
PartialProductKey: 6VM33
ProductkeyChannel: Volume:GVLK
KeyManagementServiceMachine: 169.254.169.251

Despite that configuration the server is licesing itself against the ADBA object (that we use for our onpremise VMs):

cscript //NoLogo "%windir%\System32\slmgr.vbs" /dli
Name: Windows(R), ServerDatacenter edition
Description: Windows(R) Operating System, VOLUME_KMSCLIENT channel
Partial Product Key: 6VM33
License Status: Licensed
Volume activation expiration: 253720 minute(s) (177 day(s))
Configured Activation Type: All
Most recent activation information:
AD Activation client information
Activation Object name: Windows(R) Operating System, VOLUME_KMS_WS22 channel
AO DN: CN=OMITTED,CN=Activation Objects,CN=Microsoft SPP,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=OMITTED,DC=COM

There's a way to force the server to activate with the KMS provided by AWS instead of our ADBA?
Is that going to be a problem in case of MS audit?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hello,

From an elevated cmd prompt try using SLMGR.VBS / act-type 2

From slmgr /?

/act-type [Activation-Type] [Activation ID]

Set activation type to 1 (for AD) or 2 (for KMS) or 3 (for Token) or 0 (for all).
```This should tell activation to use KMS.

The default order for attempting activation is:

1. Token

1. ADBA

1. KMS

Darrell