KMS

Activate any version of Windows and Office, forever

SYNOPSIS 📖

What can I do with this? This image will run a KMS server you can use to activate any version of Windows and Office, forever.

Works with:

• Windows Vista
• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 8.1
• Windows 10
• Windows 11
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025
• Microsoft Office 2010 ( Volume License )
• Microsoft Office 2013 ( Volume License )
• Microsoft Office 2016 ( Volume License )
• Microsoft Office 2019 ( Volume License )
• Microsoft Office 2021 ( Volume License )
• Microsoft Office 2024 ( Volume License )

VOLUMES 📁

• /kms/var - Directory of the activation database

COMPOSE ✂️

name: "kms"

x-lockdown: &lockdown
  # prevents write access to the image itself
  read_only: true
  # prevents any process within the container to gain more privileges
  security_opt:
    - "no-new-privileges=true"

services:
  server:
    image: "11notes/kms:1.0.3"
    <<: *lockdown
    environment:
      TZ: "Europe/Zurich"
    volumes:
      - "server.var:/kms/var"
    networks:
      frontend:
    ports:
      - "1688:1688/tcp"
    restart: "always"

  gui:
    depends_on:
      server:
        condition: "service_healthy"
        restart: true
    image: "11notes/kms-gui:1.0.3"
    environment:
      TZ: "Europe/Zurich"
    volumes:
      - "server.var:/kms/var"
    networks:
      frontend:
    ports:
      - "3000:3000/tcp"
    restart: "always"

volumes:
  server.var:

networks:
  frontend:

To find out how you can change the default UID/GID of this container image, consult the RTFM.

EXAMPLE

Add your product key

Windows Server 2025 Datacenter. List of GVLK

slmgr /ipk D764K-2NDRG-47T6Q-P8T8W-YP6DF

Add your KMS server information

... via CLI

 slmgr /skms KMS_IP:KMS_PORT

... via registry (or add these key to your GPO)

"Windows"
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform" -Name "KeyManagementServiceName" -Value "KMS_IP"
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform" -Name "KeyManagementServicePort" -Value "KMS_PORT"

"Office"
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform" -Name "KeyManagementServiceName" -Value "KMS_IP"
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform" -Name "KeyManagementServicePort" -Value "KMS_PORT"

... via DNS

# BIND
_vlmcs._tcp SRV 0 0 KMS_PORT KMS_IP

Activate server

slmgr /ato

DEFAULT SETTINGS 🗃️

Parameter	Value	Description
user	docker	user name
uid	1000	user identifier
gid	1000	group identifier
home	/kms	home directory of user docker
database	/kms/var/kms.db	SQlite database holding all client data

ENVIRONMENT 📝

Parameter	Value	Default
TZ	Time Zone
DEBUG	Will activate debug option for container image and app (if available)
KMS_LOCALE	see Microsoft LICD specification	1033 (en-US)
KMS_ACTIVATIONINTERVAL	Retry unsuccessful after N minutes	120 (2 hours)
KMS_RENEWALINTERVAL	re-activation after N minutes	259200 (180 days)

MAIN TAGS 🏷️

These are the main tags for the image. There is also a tag for each commit and its shorthand sha256 value.

• 1.0.3

There is no latest tag, what am I supposed to do about updates?

It is my opinion that the :latest tag is a bad habbit and should not be used at all. Many developers introduce breaking changes in new releases. This would messed up everything for people who use :latest. If you don’t want to change the tag to the latest semver, simply use the short versions of semver. Instead of using :1.0.3 you can use :1 or :1.0. Since on each new version these tags are updated to the latest version of the software, using them is identical to using :latest but at least fixed to a major or minor version. Which in theory should not introduce breaking changes.

If you still insist on having the bleeding edge release of this app, simply use the :rolling tag, but be warned! You will get the latest version of the app instantly, regardless of breaking changes or security issues or what so ever. You do this at your own risk!

REGISTRIES ☁️

docker pull 11notes/kms:1.0.3
docker pull ghcr.io/11notes/kms:1.0.3
docker pull quay.io/11notes/kms:1.0.3

SOURCE 💾

• 11notes/kms

PARENT IMAGE 🏛️

• 11notes/python:3.15

BUILT WITH 🧰

• 11notes/py-kms
• 11notes/util

GENERAL TIPS 📌

[!TIP]

• Use a reverse proxy like Traefik, Nginx, HAproxy to terminate TLS and to protect your endpoints
• Use Let’s Encrypt DNS-01 challenge to obtain valid SSL certificates for your services

• Do not expose this image to WAN! You will get notified from Microsoft via your ISP to terminate the service if you do so
• Microsoft LICD
• Use 11notes/kms-gui if you want to see the clients you activated in a nice web GUI

ElevenNotes™️

This image is provided to you at your own risk. Always make backups before updating an image to a different version. Check the releases for breaking changes. If you have any problems with using this image simply raise an issue, thanks. If you have a question or inputs please create a new discussion instead of an issue. You can find all my other repositories on github.

created 19.10.2026, 15:12:16 (CET)