Tools to manage Office 2016 volume activation

• 
  12/20/2016
• 10 minutes to read
• Contributors
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Summary: Describes the ospp.vbs and the slmgr.vbs scripts, and the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT).

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 2016. Before you read this article, we recommend that you read Plan volume activation of Office 2016, Activate Office 2016 MAK clients, and Active Directory Domain Services-based activation of Office 2016.

Important

This information applies to volume license editions of Office 2016. It does not apply to Office 365 ProPlus. Office 365 ProPlus is licensed through a subscription. If you are an admin and you want to activate Office 365 ProPlus for your company, review the Overview of licensing and activation in Office 365 ProPlus instead.

The ospp.vbs script

The Office Software Protection Platform script (ospp.vbs) enables you to configure volume license editions of Office 2016 client products. By default, the ospp.vbs script is installed in the following folder:

64-bit edition: %installdir%\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\

32-bit edition: %installdir%\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\

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 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, 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 in an elevated command prompt.

Global options for ospp.vbs

Global option	Description
/act	Activates installed Office 2016 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 2016 product keys.
/rearm:value	Resets the licensing status for an Office 2016 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. 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 and later versions only) Sets volume activation type. Value parameter is required. Values: 1 (for Active Directory Domain Services-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 name 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 2016 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

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
2. 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
2. To check the KMS activation history, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
   cscript ospp.vbs /dhistorykms
3. To trigger activation, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
   cscript ospp.vbs /act
4. 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 caching on, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
   cscript ospp.vbs /cachst:TRUE
2. On the KMS client computer, to turn caching off, 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 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 computer, you must run ospp.vbs with the /setprt option. > For example: cscript ospp.vbs /setprt:1750
2. To trigger activation, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
   cscript ospp.vbs /act
3. 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
4. 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 2016 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 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 you do not 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 do not provide a user account and password, 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 2016 Activation ID is 98EBFE73-2084-4C97-932C-C0CD1643BEA7.
/ 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. The Office 2016 Activation ID is 98EBFE73-2084-4C97-932C-C0CD1643BEA7. 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 /atpparameter.
/ 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 2016 Activation ID is 98EBFE73-2084-4C97-932C-C0CD1643BEA7.
/ dlv [ActivationID]	Displays detailed license information for Windows (default), or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. The Office 2016 Activation ID is 98EBFE73-2084-4C97-932C-C0CD1643BEA7. 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 98EBFE73-2084-4C97-932C-C0CD1643BEA7
/ dli [ActivationID]	Displays license information for Windows (default), or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. The Office 2016 Activation ID is 98EBFE73-2084-4C97-932C-C0CD1643BEA7.
/ upk [ActivationID]	Uninstalls the product key for Windows (default) or the application that is identified when its Activation ID is provided. The Office 2016 Activation ID is 98EBFE73-2084-4C97-932C-C0CD1643BEA7. CAUTION: If you intend to uninstall the product key for Office 2016, 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 cannot 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 (7 days). This setting overrides the local KMS client settings.

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

Slmgr.vbs command options — 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.