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Prepare and set up the Office 2013 KMS host

  • Article

 

Applies to: Office 2013

Summary: How to prepare and configure the Office 2013 Key Management Service (KMS) host to enable Office 2013 clients to activate through KMS.

Audience: IT Professionals

To enable Key Management Service (KMS) functionality, you install KMS host license files and a KMS activation key on the KMS host computer. Then, you activate the key over the Internet or by telephone using Microsoft hosted activation services.

To find out more about how to buy volume license editions of Office 2013, see Microsoft Office Volume Licensing Buyer's Guide.

Are you a user?

If you are a user activating a personal copy of Office 2013, follow the Office 2013 activation directions instead.

Are you an admin?

If you are an admin and you want to activate Office 365 ProPlus for your company, review the Office 365 ProPlus licensing options instead.

If you are an admin setting up a KMS host to activate Office 2013 for your company, you’re at the right place, keep reading.

In this article:

  • Prepare the KMS host

  • To activate the Office KMS host

  • To activate an Office KMS host by telephone

  • Verify successful activation of the Office KMS host

Prepare the KMS host

You must be a member of the Administrators group on the KMS host computer to activate the KMS host key.

You must use one of the following operating systems on the computer on which you install Office 2013 KMS. You can also set up Office 2013 KMS host on the same computer that is serving as KMS host for Office 2010.

  • Volume license editions of Windows 7

  • Volume license editions of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1

  • Volume license editions of Windows 10

  • Windows Server 2008 R2

  • Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2.

Set up and activate Office KMS

Co-hosting with Windows KMS

If you currently have a Windows KMS host on an operating system that supports Office KMS, we recommend that you use that computer for your Office KMS host as well. To use the same computer for volume license editions of Office, you must still install the licensing files, and activate an Office 2013 KMS host key.

To activate Office KMS

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure has the following credentials:

    • The user account that performs this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the KMS host computer.

  2. On the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack website, download and run office2013volumelicensepack_en-us_x86.exe.

    Then, follow the steps in the Install Instructions section on the website.

    To get the key for the Microsoft Office 2013 KMS, sign in to Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center. On this page, don’t choose the Key Management Service Host Key. Choose the Office version you are licensed for instead, and look for the KMS key for that version.

    Important

    If you are setting up KMS on Windows 7 volume license 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 on Windows 8.

  3. If the KMS host does not have an Internet connection, see To activate an Office KMS host by telephone later in this article.

  4. If you have a firewall enabled, follow these steps to enable KMS through the firewall:

    1. In Control Panel, select System and Security, and then select Windows Firewall.

    2. Select the Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall link.

    3. Select Change Settings.

    4. Select the Key Management Service check box, and then click OK.

    Note

    The default port is 1688.

  5. If you installed the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack on Windows 8, when the application opens, the dialog box in the following figure appears. Choose Yes to install the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows from the RSAT download page, or click No to use slmgr.vbs to set up KMS host activation. We recommend that you install RSAT.

    Figure: Office 2013 Volume License Pack dialog box

    A dialog box that lets you install the Office 2013 Volume Licensing Pack

    For more information about slmgr.vbs (Software License Manager script), see The slmgr.vbs script.

Activating an Office KMS host by telephone

If your KMS host does not have an Internet connection, you can activate it by telephone.

To activate an Office KMS host by telephone

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure has the following credentials:

    • The user account that performs this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the computer that is running KMS.

  2. Start a Command Prompt with elevated privileges.

    • For Windows Server 2008 R2:

      • Click Start, click All Programs, expand Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

    • For Windows Server 2012:

      • On the Start screen, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

        If Command Prompt is not on the Start screen:

      • Right-click Computer, click All apps, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

  3. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Yes.

  4. In the Administrator: Command Prompt window, change to the C:\Windows\system32 directory and then run the following command:

    cscript slmgr.vbs /dti 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD

    Note

    The 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD value is the Office 2013 activation ID.

    The result of this command is a 36-digit installation ID. To prepare for step 6, paste the installation ID number into Notepad, and then break it up into six groups of six numbers.

  5. Run slui.exe 4. This launches the Windows phone activation wizard. Call the telephone number that is displayed.

    After you have obtained the telephone number, cancel the wizard.

    Warning

    Ignore the activation ID displayed by the wizard. It is for Windows.

  6. At each prompt, enter a group of six numbers. This is the installation ID for Office 2013 that you obtained in step 4.

  7. When you hear the response, write down the numbers. This is your confirmation ID.

  8. Run cscript slmgr.vbs /atp xxxxxxxxxxxx 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD, where xxxxxxxxxxxx is the confirmation ID that you receive by telephone (there should be 48 numbers).

    Note

    The 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD value is the Office 2013 activation ID. Therefore, paste this value exactly as shown.

  9. You should see a message that the confirmation ID was successfully deposited.

Verify successful activation of the Office KMS host

After you set up the host, the KMS clients send requests for activation and increment the current count of activations. The current count must be 5 or larger before KMS clients are activated. The maximum current count is double the activation threshold, or 10. You can also check the KMS log in the Applications and Services Logs folder for event ID 12290, the ID for KMS-related activity. The KMS log records activation requests from KMS clients. Each event displays the name of the computer and the time stamp of each activation request.

To verify that the Office 2013 KMS host key is successfully installed and activated

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure has the following credentials:

    • The user account that performs this procedure is a member of the Administrators group on the computer that is running KMS.

  2. Start a Command Prompt with elevated privileges.

    • For Windows Server 2008 R2:

      • Click Start, click All Programs, expand Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

    • For Windows Server 2012:

      • On the Start screen, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

        If Command Prompt is not on the Start screen:

      • Right-click Computer, click All apps, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

  3. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Yes.

  4. In the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv all

    To view information only for Office 2013, specify the Activation ID after the /dlv parameter. For example:

    cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv 2E28138A-847F-42BC-9752-61B03FFF33CD

    The following is an example of the output. Note the line that says: “License Status: Licensed”. This line indicates that your KMS host is successfully activated.

    Name: Office 15, OfficeKMSHostVL_KMS_Host edition
Description: Office 15, VOLUME_KMS channel
Activation ID: 2e28138a-847f-42bc-9752-61b03fff33cd
Application ID: 0ff1ce15-a989-479d-af46-f275c6370663
Extended PID: 05426-00206-234-001162-03-1033-9200.0000-0992013
Installation ID: 020650770493837252929082195773527024195725809211989214
Use License URL: https://activation.sls.microsoft.com/SLActivateProduct/SLActiva
teProduct.asmx?configextension=o14
Validation URL: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=187557
Partial Product Key: KDQ2G
License Status: Licensed
Remaining Windows rearm count: 1000
Trusted time: 4/9/2013 9:58:33 AM

Key Management Service is enabled on this machine
    Current count: 0
    Listening on Port: 1688
    DNS publishing enabled
    KMS priority: Normal

Key Management Service cumulative requests received from clients
    Total requests received: 0
    Failed requests received: 0
    Requests with License Status Unlicensed: 0
    Requests with License Status Licensed: 0
    Requests with License Status Initial grace period: 0
    Requests with License Status License expired or Hardware out of tolerance: 0

    Requests with License Status Non-genuine grace period: 0
    Requests with License Status Notification: 0

  5. Close the Administrator: Command Prompt window.

See also

Volume activation of Office 2013
Plan volume activation of Office 2013
Activate Office 2013 MAK clients
Troubleshoot volume activation for Office 2013