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Activate Windows 8 Enterprise with MAK

Posted August 2012 by Steve Sinchak

The Windows 8 Enterprise edition is pre-configured for key management server (KMS) activation upon install. In order to activate with a multiple activation key (MAK) obtained from the volume licensing site, MSDN or TechNet, you must use the software licensing command line utility.

  1. Open up and administrative level command prompt by typing in cmd on the modern start menu, right click on the listing and select Run as administrator on the bottom of the screen.
  2. Type in the following command and hit Enter:

slmgr.vbs /ipk

Example:

slmgr.vbs /ipk 00000-00000-00000-00000-00000 3. Click OK on the Installed product key successfully screen. 4. Activate the new key by running the following command:

slmgr.vbs /ato 5. Reboot to remove the desktop watermark.

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