Tools to manage Office 2013 volume activation

Article
12/26/2016

Applies to: Office 2013

Summary: Describes the ospp.vbs and the slmgr.vbs scripts, and the Volume Activation Management Tool.

Audience: IT Professionals

The Office Software Protection Platform script (ospp.vbs), the Software License Manager script (slmgr.vbs), and the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) can help you configure and test volume license editions of Office 2013. Before you read this article, we recommend that you read Plan volume activation of Office 2013, KMS activation of Office 2013, Activate Office 2013 MAK clients, and Active Directory-based activation of Office 2013.

Important

This information applies to volume license editions of Office 2013. It does not apply to Office 365 ProPlus. Office 365 ProPlus is licensed through a subscription. For more information, see Office 365 ProPlus Deployment Guide.

In this article:

Tips for configuring KMS clients and hosts
The ospp.vbs script
The slmgr.vbs script
Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT)

Tips for configuring KMS clients and hosts

Generally, you do not have to configure Office Key Management Service (KMS) clients if the Office KMS host was correctly set up and configured. The KMS client automatically searches for the KMS host by using DNS and then attempts activation. The KMS service uses service (SRV) resource records (RRs) in DNS to store and communicate the locations of KMS hosts.

By default, KMS hosts automatically publish the information that KMS clients have to find and connect to them by using DNS dynamic update protocol. By default, KMS clients query the DNS server for KMS service information.

You can manually configure KMS hosts and clients, depending on the network configuration and security requirements. For example, if the network environment does not use SRV records, you can manually configure a KMS client to use a specific KMS host. For more information about how to configure the KMS client, see The ospp.vbs script later in this article and Set up Office 2013 KMS clients. For more information about how to configure the KMS host, see Prepare and set up the Office 2013 KMS host.

The ospp.vbs script

The Office Software Protection Platform script (ospp.vbs) enables you to configure volume license editions of Office 2013 client products. You must open a command prompt by using administrator permissions and navigate to the folder that contains the script. The script is located in the %installdir%\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15 folder. If you are running 32-bit Office 2013 on a 64-bit operating system, the script is located in the %installdir%\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15 folder.

Running ospp.vbs requires the cscript.exe script engine. To see the Help file, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /?

The general syntax is as follows:

cscript ospp.vbs [Option:Value] [ComputerName] [User] [Password]

Option Specifies the option and value to use to activate a product, install or uninstall a product key, install and display license information, set KMS host name and port, and remove KMS host. The options and values are listed in the tables in this section.

ComputerName Name of the remote computer. If a computer name is not provided, the local computer is used.

User Account that has the required permission on the remote computer.

Password Password for the account. If a user account and password are not provided, the current credentials are used.

Important

Before you run ospp.vbs, be sure that:

The Windows firewall allows Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) traffic on the remote computer.
You have credentials that have the required permissions on the remote computer, or you can pass credentials that have the required permissions to the remote computer.
You are running the ospp.vbs in an elevated command prompt.

Global options for ospp.vbs

Global option	Description
/act	Activates installed Office 2013 product keys.
/inpkey:value	Installs a product key (replaces existing key) with a user-provided product key. Value option is required.
/unpkey:value	Uninstalls an installed product key with the last five digits of the product key to uninstall (as displayed by the /dstatus option). Value parameter is required.
/inslic:value	Installs a license with user-provided path of the .xrm-ms license. Value parameter is required.
/dstatus	Displays license information for installed product keys.
/dstatusall	Displays license information for all installed licenses.
/dhistoryacterr	Displays the failure history for MAK/retail activation.
/dinstid	Displays Installation ID for offline activation.
/actcid:value	Activates product with user-provided Confirmation ID. Value parameter is required.
/rearm	Resets the licensing status for all installed Office 2013 product keys.
/rearm:value	Resets the licensing status for an Office 2013 license with a user-provided SKUID value. Value parameter is required. Use this option with the SKUID value specified by using the /dstatus option if you have run out of rearms and have activated Office through KMS or Active Directory-based activation to gain an additional rearm.
/ddescr:value	Displays the description for a user-provided error code. Value parameter is required.

The following table describes the ospp.vbs options for configuring the KMS client.

KMS client options for ospp.vbs

KMS client option	Description
/dhistorykms	Displays KMS client activation history.
/dcmid	Displays KMS client computer ID (CMID).
/sethst:value	Sets a KMS host name with a user-provided host name. Value parameter is required. This sets HKLM\Software\Microsoft\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform\KeyManagementServiceName (REG_SZ).
/setprt:value	Sets a KMS port with a user-provided port number. Value parameter is required. This sets HKLM\Software\Microsoft\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform\KeyManagementServicePort (REG_SZ).
/remhst	Removes KMS host name (sets port to default).
/cachst:value	Allows or denies KMS host caching. Value parameter is required (TRUE or FALSE).
/actype:value	(Windows 8 and later versions only) Sets volume activation type. Value parameter is required. Values: 1 (for Active Directory-based), 2 (for KMS), 0 (for both).
/skms-domain:value	(Windows 8 and later versions only) Sets the specific DNS domain in which all KMS SRV records can be found. This setting has no effect if the specific single KMS host is set by the /sethst option. Value parameter is the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) and is required.
/ckms-domain	(Windows 8 and later versions only) Clears the specific DNS domain in which all KMS SRV records can be found. The specific KMS host is used if it is set by the /sethst option. Otherwise, auto-discovery of the KMS host is used.

Scenarios that use ospp.vbs

The following scenarios assume that you are running ospp.vbs in an elevated command prompt.

Note

Any changes that you make affect only the Office 2013 client products. You have to configure the Windows client separately by using the slmgr.vbs script described in The slmgr.vbs script later in this article.

To change the product key to a MAK key on a remote computer

If the remote computer is named contoso1, run the following command to enter the product key. This assumes that you have administrator credentials on the remote computer. If your credentials on the remote computer differ from your logon name and password, you must type your logon name and password at the command line, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx contoso1
To activate the remote computer, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /act contoso1

To diagnose KMS activation errors

If the computer has the KMS client key installed, check the licensing status. To do this, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /dstatusall
To check the KMS activation history, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /dhistorykms
To trigger activation, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /act
Check the error message for error code 0xC004F042. If in the notification dialog boxes you see an error code that is shown to users, you can also use that code to check the error message. To do this, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /ddescr:0xC004F042

To test KMS host name, and then set to auto-discovery

If you are testing a KMS host named kmstest.contoso.com, and you want to specify it in the KMS client, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /sethst:kmstest.contoso.com

Note

If you change the default port on the KMS host, you must run ospp.vbs with the /setprt option.
For example: cscript ospp.vbs /setprt:1750
To trigger activation, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /act
To check the KMS activation history to see whether the host was successfully contacted, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /dhistorykms
Now you want this KMS client to use Domain Name System (DNS) for auto-discovery of the production KMS host. To remove the KMS host name, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript ospp.vbs /remhst

The slmgr.vbs script

The Software License Manager (slmgr.vbs) script is used to configure and retrieve volume activation information for the Office 2013 KMS host and the Windows host. For more information, see Configuring KMS Hosts for Windows.

The script can be run locally on the target computer or remotely from another computer. You have to be an administrator to use the script. If a standard user runs slmgr.vbs, some license data might be missing or incorrect, and many operations are prohibited.

The slmgr.vbs script can use the Windows-based script host, wscript.exe, or the command-based script host, cscript.exe, and administrators can specify which script engine to use. If no script engine is specified, slmgr.vbs runs by using the default script engine, wscript.exe. We recommend the cscript.exe script engine.

The Software Licensing Service must be restarted for any changes to take effect. To restart the Software Licensing Service, use the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Services snap-in or run the following command:

net stop sppsvc && net start sppsvc

The slmgr.vbs script requires at least one parameter. If the script is run without any parameters, it displays Help information. The following table lists slmgr.vbs command-line options, and a description of each. Most of the parameters in the table configure the KMS host. However, the parameters /sai and /sri are passed to KMS clients after the KMS clients contact the KMS host. The general syntax of slmgr.vbs is as follows (assuming you are using the cscript.exe as the script engine):

cscript slmgr.vbs /parameter

cscript slmgr.vbs [ComputerName] [User] [Password] [Option]

ComputerName Name of the remote computer. If a computer name is not passed, a local computer is used.

User Account with required permission on the remote computer.

Password Password for the account. If a user account and password are not passed, current credentials are used.

Option Options are shown in the following table.

Slmgr.vbs command options — standard

Option	Description
/ipk [ProductKey]	Installs the product key for Windows (default) or other application identified by the product key.
/ato [ActivationID]	Activates the KMS host for Windows (default), or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. The Office 2013 Activation ID is 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD.
/dti [ActivationID]	Displays the Installation ID that is used for telephone activation of the KMS host for Windows (default) or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. The Office 2013 Activation ID is 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD. You enter the Installation ID into the telephone to receive the Confirmation ID, which is used for activating the KMS host by using the /atp parameter.
/atp [ConfirmationID][ActivationID]	After the Confirmation ID is received, activates the KMS host for Windows (default) or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. The Office 2013 Activation ID is 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD.
/dlv [ActivationID]	Displays detailed license information for Windows (default), or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. The Office 2013 Activation ID is 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD. For example, run the following command at the elevated command prompt, in the C:\windows\system32 folder to get the status of the Office KMS host: cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD
/dli [ActivationID]	Displays license information for Windows (default), or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. The Office 2013 Activation ID is 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD.
/upk [ActivationID]	Uninstalls the product key for Windows (default) or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. The Office 2013 Activation ID is 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD. Warning If you intend to uninstall the product key for Office 2013, for example, and forget to enter the Activation ID, all installed product keys are uninstalled. This includes the product key for Windows.
/xpr [ActivationID]	Displays the expiration date for the current license state.
/sprt [PortNumber]	Sets the TCP communications port on a KMS host. It replaces PortNumber with the TCP port number to use. The default setting is 1688.
/cdns	Disables automatic DNS publishing by a KMS host.
/sdns	Enables automatic DNS publishing by the KMS host.
/cpri	Lowers the priority of KMS host processes.
/sai [ActivationInterval]	Changes how often a KMS client attempts to activate itself when it cannot find a KMS host. It replaces ActivationInterval with a value expressed in minutes. The default setting is 120.
/sri [RenewalInterval]	Changes how often a KMS client attempts to renew its activation by contacting a KMS host. It replaces RenewalInterval with a value expressed in minutes. The default setting is 10080 (7 days). This setting overrides the local KMS client settings.

The following table shows the command options for activating an Active Directory forest by using Active Directory-based activation.

Slmgr.vbs command options — Active Directory–based activation

Option	Description
/ad-activation-online [ProductKey]	Activates an Active Directory forest through the user-provided product key.
/ad-activation-apply-get-iid [ProductKey]	Displays installation ID for Active Directory forest.
/ad-activation-apply-cid [ProductKey][ConfirmationID]	Activates an Active Directory forest through the user-provided product key and the Confirmation ID.

Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT)

Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) 3.0 provides a graphical user interface to manage volume activation. In addition to the operating systems under which VAMT 2.0 runs, VAMT 3.0 can run under Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. For more information about VAMT 3.0, see Volume Activation Management Tool Technical Reference.