To make sure that Windows 10 and Windows Server clones are properly activated when the clones are created, you must use Microsoft volume activation on the golden image virtual machine. The volume-activation technology requires a volume license key.

To activate Windows with volume activation, you use Key Management Service (KMS), which requires a KMS license key. See your Microsoft dealer to acquire a volume license key and configure volume activation.

Note: If you set up a new KMS server and use ClonePrep to create instant-clone desktop pools, the KMS client count might not increment and the instant-clone might not be able to activate Windows. For more information, see the VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2048742.
Note: Multiple Activation Key (MAK) licensing is not supported. Active Directory-based activation is not supported.

Before you create an instant-clone desktop pool, you must use volume activation to activate Windows on the golden image.

The following steps describe how activation takes place:

  1. Invoke a script to remove the existing license. For more information, see the Microsoft Windows documentation to remove the Windows license key using a command.
  2. Restart Windows.
  3. Invoke a script that uses KMS licensing to activate Windows.

KMS treats each activated clone as a computer with a newly issued license.