Do I need a KMS key for the Windows Server 2012 R2 server itself if I'm going to configure it to activate Windows 8.1 and Office 2013?

Question

Computer networks

Windows Server 2012 R2 with the "Volume License Activation Tools" role is located in the domain, and is supposed to be a KMS server for activating clients on Windows 8.1, as well as Office 2013 (in this case, office machines can be on a network outside the domain).
When I open the volume license activation tool, I need to enter a KMS key, I enter the KMS key for Windows 8.1, and I get an error:

Служба лицензирования программного обеспечения сообщила, что эта лицензия не установлена

When entering the KMS key for Office, I also received an error, but after installing the office 2013 volume license pack and entering the same key, I received a window about the successful addition of the key. And now if you try to add this key again through the "activation tools", it succeeds.

However, I also see an error in the events:


As a result, I don’t understand if I need a KMS key for WinServer itself, or only for those products that I am going to activate using this server (Win 8.1, Office 2013)?

How can I check if this server is currently a working KMS server for activating Office 2013 products on the local network?

How to add a KMS key to activate Windows 8.1 to activate this OS on clients in the local network?

Are any actions required on the client side to activate, or will everything happen automatically?

Answer 1

To activate the client versions, the kms service must be installed on the client windows in your case, windows 8.1, to activate the server versions on the windows server. You can definitely add office activation to the client. (windows 8.1) Of course, you must have a kms key that you need to activate.
Those that are on the Microsoft website are client keys, you do not activate the kms server for them.
To activate clients, you all need to change the keys on the clients to the client key of the kms. And in dns or on the computers themselves, register the address of the kms server