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Tools to manage volume activation of Office

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Applies to: Volume licensed versions of Office LTSC 2024, Office LTSC 2021, Office 2019, and Office 2016 (including Project and Visio)

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 licensed versions of Office, including Project and Visio. Before you read this article, we recommend that you read the following articles:

The ospp.vbs script

The Office Software Protection Platform script (ospp.vbs) enables you to configure volume licensed versions of Office products, including Project and Visio. The ospp.vbs script is located in the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16 folder. If you installed the 32-bit version of Office on a 64-bit operating system, go to the Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16 folder.

Note

The ospp.vbs script doesn't work for Microsoft 365 Apps or subscription versions of Project and Visio. Instead, you can use a PowerShell script named vnextdiag.ps1. For more information, see Check the license and activation status for Microsoft 365 Apps.

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 name and port. The options and values are listed in the tables in this section.

ComputerName Name of the remote computer. If a computer name isn't 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 aren't provided, the current credentials are used.

Important

Before you run the ospp.vbs, ensure that:

  • If you want to run the script on a remote computer, the Windows firewall allows Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) traffic on the remote computer.
  • The user account you will use is a member of the Administrators group on the computer on which you run the script.
  • You run ospp.vbs script from an elevated command prompt.

Global options for ospp.vbs

Global option Description
/act Activates installed Office 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 product keys.
/rearm:value Resets the licensing status for an Office license with a user-provided SKU ID value. Value parameter is required.

Use this option with the SKU ID 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 another 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. The default port number is 1688. Value parameter is required.

This sets HKLM\Software\Microsoft\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform\KeyManagementServicePort (REG_SZ).
/remhst Removes KMS host name and sets port to default. The default port is 1688.
/cachst:value Allows or denies KMS host caching. Value parameter is required (TRUE or FALSE).
/actype:value (Windows 8.1 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 8.1 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 name is set by the /sethst option. Value parameter is the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) and is required.
/ckms-domain (Windows 8.1 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's 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're running ospp.vbs in an elevated command prompt.

Note

Any changes that you make affect only the Office client products. You have to configure the Windows client separately by using the slmgr.vbs script.

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

  1. 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
  1. To activate the remote computer, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
cscript ospp.vbs /act contoso1

To diagnose KMS activation errors

  1. 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
  1. To check the KMS activation history, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
cscript ospp.vbs /dhistorykms
  1. To trigger activation, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
cscript ospp.vbs /act
  1. 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 turn on or off KMS host caching on the KMS client

  1. On the KMS client computer, to turn on caching, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
cscript ospp.vbs /cachst:TRUE
  1. On the KMS client computer, to turn off caching, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
cscript ospp.vbs /cachst:FALSE

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

  1. If you're 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 computer, you must run ospp.vbs with the /setprt option. For example: cscript ospp.vbs /setprt:1750

  1. To trigger activation, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
cscript ospp.vbs /act
  1. 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
  1. 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, located in the Windows\system32 folder, is used to configure and retrieve volume activation information for the Office KMS host and the Windows host. For more information, see Configuring KMS Hosts for Windows.

You can run the script 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.

You must restart the Software Licensing Service 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 you run the script 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 computer. However, the parameters /sai and /sri are passed to KMS clients after the KMS clients contact the KMS host computer. The general syntax of slmgr.vbs is as follows (assuming you're using the cscript.exe as the script engine):

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

ComputerName Name of the remote computer. If you don't provide a computer name, the local computer is used.

User Account with required permission on the remote computer.

Password Password for the account. If you don't provide a user account and password, current credentials are used.

Option Options are shown in the following table.

Slmgr.vbs command options

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.
/ dti ActivationID Displays the Installation ID that is used for telephone activation of the KMS host computer for Windows (default) or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. You enter the Installation ID into the telephone to receive the Confirmation ID, which is used for activating the KMS host computer 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.
/ dlv ActivationID Displays detailed license information for Windows (default), or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided.

For example, run the following command at the elevated command prompt in the Windows\system32 folder to get the status of the Office KMS host:

cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv 70512334-47B4-44DB-A233-BE5EA33B914C
/ dli ActivationID Displays license information for Windows (default), or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided.
/ upk ActivationID Uninstalls the product key for Windows (default) or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided.

CAUTION: If you intend to uninstall the product key for Office, 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 computer. It replaces PortNumber with the TCP port number to use. The default setting is 1688.
/ cdns Disables automatic DNS publishing by a KMS host computer.
/ sdns Enables automatic DNS publishing by the KMS host computer.
/ cpri Lowers the priority of KMS host computer processes.
/ sai ActivationInterval Changes how often a KMS client attempts to activate itself when it can't find a KMS host computer. It replaces ActivationInterval with a value expressed in minutes. The default setting is 120 minutes.
/ sri RenewalInterval Changes how often a KMS client attempts to renew its activation by contacting a KMS host computer. It replaces RenewalInterval with a value expressed in minutes. The default setting is 10080 minutes (seven days). This setting overrides the local KMS client settings.

Note

  • Activation ID for Office LTSC 2024: 8D368FC1-9470-4BE2-8D66-90E836CBB051
  • Activation ID for Office LTSC 2021: 47F3B983-7C53-4D45-ABC6-BCD91E2DD90A
  • Activation ID for Office 2019: 70512334-47B4-44DB-A233-BE5EA33B914C
  • Activation ID for Office 2016: 98EBFE73-2084-4C97-932C-C0CD1643BEA7

Slmgr.vbs command options (Active Directory-based activation)

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

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

Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT)

Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) provides a graphical user interface to manage volume activation. For more information, see Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) technical reference.

Note

  • Office LTSC 2024, Office LTSC 2021, and Office 2019 require at least VAMT 3.1.

Manage volume activation for Office LTSC 2024 using VAMT

To manage volume activation for Office LTSC 2024 using VAMT, follow these steps:

  1. Identify the installation folder for VAMT, for example, C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\VAMT3.
  2. Download the Office LTSC 2024 support files from the Office VAMT download link.
  3. Copy the pkeyconfig-office24-client.xrm-ms, pkeyconfig-office24-kmshost.xrm-ms, and Office24.cilx files into the appropriate VAMT directories:
    • Copy the .xrm-ms files into the VAMT3\pkconfig folder.
    • Copy the .cilx file to a location where it can be easily accessed for import.

To import Office LTSC 2024 data into VAMT:

  1. Open VAMT.
  2. In the right-side Actions pane, select Import list to open the Import List dialog box.
  3. In the Import List dialog box, navigate to the location of the Office24.cilx file, choose the file, and select Open.
  4. In the Volume Activation Management Tool dialog box, select OK to begin the import. VAMT will display a progress message while the file is being imported. Select OK when a message confirms that the import has completed successfully.