The KMS and MAK activation processes for Office 2013 are basically the same as they were for Office 2010, except that the Office 2013 KMS host is not supported on Windows Server 2003. The Office 2013 KMS host is supported on Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7 VL edition, Windows 8 VL edition, and Windows Server 2012.

Office 2013 can be activated by using KMS on the following platforms:

KMS host platforms for Office 2013 activation

If Office 2013 runs on…

It can activate against a KMS host that runs on…

Windows 7 or Windows 8

Volume License editions of Windows 7 (see Important note) Windows Server 2008 R2 (see Important note) Volume License editions of Windows 8 Windows Server 2012 Important: If you are setting up a KMS host on Windows 7 VL edition or Windows Server 2008 R2, you must first install the patch as described in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2757817: An update that adds support for Windows 8 and for Windows Server 2012 to Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 KMS hosts is available. This patch allows the KMS host to activate Office 2013 clients that run Windows 8.

For Office 2013, the KMS Host License Pack is named the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack. You can use this license pack to set up KMS hosts on all supported platforms.

• If you install the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack on Windows 7   The KMS host installer prompts you to install and activate the KMS host key. For more information, see Deploy volume activation of Office 2013.

• If you install the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack on Windows Server 2012   The Microsoft Office 2013 Volume Activation Tools wizard starts when the Office 2013 Volume License Pack is installed. For details, see Activating Office 2013 by using the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack later in this article.

• If you install the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack on Windows 8   If you click Yes, the RSAT download page opens.

  • When the application opens, the dialog box in the following figure appears. Either click Yes to install the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows, or click No to run slmgr.vbs to set up a KMS host or Active Directory-Based activation. We recommend that you install RSAT.

  Figure: Office 2013 Volume License Pack dialog box

  

  
  

  Important:

  If you set up an Office 2013 KMS host on Windows 8: Although the Office 2013 Volume License Pack dialog box indicates that you can either use the Volume Activation (VA) server role or run slmgr.vbs, the VA server role requires that there you have a Windows Server 2012 installed on your network to load the server role against. Instead, you can run the Volume Activation Tools wizard from the Tools menu in Server Manager. You can download the wizard as part of RSAT. For details about the VA server role, see Activating Office 2013 by using the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack later in this article. If you choose to use slmgr.vbs, you must run the following commands in the listed order to install and activate the KMS host key: cscript slmgr.vbs /ipk [HostProductKey] cscript slmgr.vbs /ato 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD

Note:
You can set up an Office 2013 KMS host on the same computer that contains an Office 2010 KMS host if you are using any of the following operating systems: Volume License editions of Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 R2 Volume License editions of Windows 8 Windows Server 2012

By default, Office 2013 VL editions install a Generic Volume License Key (GVLK). The GVLK enables Office 2013 to automatically discover and activate against your KMS host or Active Directory infrastructure. The following GVLKs are installed:

Generic Volume License Keys (GVLKs) for Office 2013

For more information about KMS and MAK, see Plan volume activation of Office 2013 and Deploy volume activation of Office 2013.

A third volume activation method is available on the Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 platforms: Active Directory-Based activation.

Active Directory-Based activation uses your existing Active Directory infrastructure to activate all Office 2013 VL clients through their connection to the domain. To set up Active Directory-Based activation for Office 2013, configure Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) from either a Windows 8 VL edition computer or a Windows Server 2012 computer. The Office 2013 VL clients can automatically activate against the domain as long as they are running on a Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 client computer.

Active Directory-Based activation uses the same GVLK/KMS host key pair that KMS activation uses. By using Active Directory-Based activation, the Software Protection Platform Service (SPPSvc) periodically attempts to activate the GVLK against either an Activation Object (AO) in AD DS or a discoverable KMS host if the Active Directory-Based activation attempt fails. A successful Active Directory-Based activation grants a license to the Office 2013 client for 180 days.

For more information about Active Directory-Based activation, see Active Directory-Based Activation Overview.

KMS activation.   You can set up an Office 2013 KMS host on Windows Server 2012 through the VA (volume activation) server role. When you run the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack on Windows Server 2012, the VA server role is automatically loaded and the Volume Activation Tools wizard is started. Running the wizard enables you to set up an Office 2013 KMS host on Windows Server 2012.

Active Directory-Based activation.   You can use the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack to set up Active Directory-Based activation. After the forest is activated, each Office 2013 VL client that is joined to the domain will automatically be activated. An Active Directory-Based activation lasts for 180 days, at which time the Office 2013 VL client must be reactivated for an additional 180 days in order to stay activated.

Important:

If you use the Volume Activation Tools wizard on Windows Server 2012, and you try to activate Office 2013 by using either KMS or Active Directory-based activation, you might receive the following error message: “Invalid product key or license mismatch. Please confirm this product key is entered correctly and is valid for this application or Windows edition.” This message means that you have added the Volume Activation Tools role to Windows Server 2012 but have not yet run the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack.

Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) 3.0 is the latest version. VAMT 3.0 is designed to manage volume activations for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Office 2010, and Office 2013. In addition, VAMT 3.0 supports Active Directory-Based activation.

For more information about VAMT 3.0, see Plan volume activation of Office 2013.