# Activating Windows Servers {% hint style="danger" %} Our KMS server will activate Windows Server versions 2012-2022. As of April 2021, Hosted Network has decommissioned the Windows Server 2008 KMS Server due to this version of Windows having been marked End-of-Life in mid-January 2020. As a result, we can no longer provide licensing for Windows Server 2008 and strongly recommend upgrading to a newer version. {% endhint %} **To activate Windows Server, open a command prompt or Windows PowerShell as Administrator and enter one of the following commands:** Set the KMS server ``` slmgr.vbs /skms hn-kms.mhn.net.au ``` Activate Windows ``` slmgr.vbs /ato ``` If successful you should get a message appear saying that it successfully activated, if you get any other message or error and it fails to activate please email with the error as either text or a screenshot. {% hint style="warning" %} These KMS Servers will only activate if the external IP is a Hosted Network IP address. If your external IP is different (routing through a VPN to another location) please contact for assistance {% endhint %} --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://kb.hostednetwork.com.au/support/services/cloud/infrastructure-as-a-service/administrative-tasks/activating-windows-servers.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.