# KMS Activation for non-domain clients

I found that Windows clients that were not part of our AD domain were not activating despite of pointing them to the correct <span class="caps">DNS</span> servers. The solution was to add our domain suffix to the client’s list of suffixes.

To summarize and make this posting more clear, here is the whole procedure:

**On your <span class="caps">DNS</span> Server(s)**

- Add <span class="caps">KMS</span> <span class="caps">DNS</span> entries to your <span class="caps">DNS</span> servers.  
     See instructions here: [http://restricted.ats.ucla.edu/sc/UCLA\_KMS\_Instructions.htm](http://restricted.ats.ucla.edu/sc/UCLA_KMS_Instructions.htm)

**On your Windows Clients**

- Point clients to your <span class="caps">DNS</span> servers
- Under <span class="caps">TCP</span>/IP settings —&gt; Advance, add you domain suffix to the “Append these <span class="caps">DNS</span> suffixes” Section.

Your AD domain suffix does <span class="caps">NOT</span> have to be the first on the list.  
As long as it is listed it works.