Activate the Development Computer

[The AD RMS SDK leveraging functionality exposed by the client in Msdrm.dll is available for use in Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012, and Windows 8. It may be altered or unavailable in subsequent versions. Instead, use Active Directory Rights Management Services SDK 2.1, which leverages functionality exposed by the client in Msipc.dll.]

Activating a computer creates a machine certificate that signs the computer into an Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) Pre-production (or Production) hierarchy. Machine certificates are saved on a per user basis. That is, each user who has activated the computer has a unique machine certificate saved in the user's certificate store. You can obtain a machine certificate by performing any of the following tasks:

• Run the Rmactivate_isv.exe program (client Pre-production).
• Run the Rmactivate_ssp_isv.exe program (server Pre-production).
• Write your own program that calls the DRMActivate function.
• Run the MachineActivation sample included with the SDK.

Activation is performed entirely on the local computer. There is no server transaction. Activating a computer that has already been activated overwrites the existing machine certificate for the specified user, thereby requiring that you obtain a new rights account certificate for that user. For more information, see Activate a User Account.

Machine certificates are installed in the following folders.

Related topics

Machine Certificates

Setting Up the Pre-production Development Environment