Managing Windows Activations using the Volume Activation Management Tool

If you want to manage your Windows Activation Licenses, you have to use the Volume Activation Management Tool.

For older versions of Windows such as Windows 7, you can download VAMT 2.0 from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11936

However, with newer versions of Windows such as Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, VAMT ships with the Windows ADK respectively.

For Windows 8, you can get the Windows ADK here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30652

For Windows 8.1, you can get the Windows ADK here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39982

However, whereas VAMT 2.0 did not require a SQL Server database to store all of the Windows Activations and could simply store them in an XML file with an extension of .cil, the newer versions of the VAMT tool for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 require an instance of SQL Server Express or higher to be installed in order to store all of the Windows Activations and License Keys.

Once it is all set up, it provides an excellent view into your Windows and Office License Keys (both Volume License and Retail):

If your "Remaining Activation Count" column displays as "Not available", you can right click on the Product Key and select "Refresh product key data online"

This should then show updated numbers in the "Remaining Activation Count" column: