When you have a KMS server for Windows licensing, your new server should automatically contact the licensing server and the operating system will be properly activated.

But what happens when the new server doesn’t automatically contact the KMS server? It took me a bit of searching to find how to manually license from the KMS server, so I’m posting it in case 1) I need it again or 2) someone else is looking for it.

The underlying issue should be investigated and remediated, but meanwhile if you just need to get the server properly licensed, you can follow the steps below.

How to Manually License a Server from a KMS Server

1. Verify that the server to be licensed can ping the KMS server.
2. Log on to the server to be licensed, open an elevated command prompt and change to the C:\Windows\System32 directory.
3. Enter the following command to set the Key Management Service (KMS) machine name:  cscript slmgr.vbs /skms <KMSservername>
4. Enter the following command to license the server:  cscript slmgr.vbs /ato