Pages

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Installing and configuring KMS server to activate Office 2016

As with the experience I had when configuring an existing KMS server to activate Windows 10 desktops:

Installing and configuring Windows 10 KMS Activation with Windows Server 2012 R2
http://terenceluk.blogspot.com/2016/01/installing-and-configuring-windows-10.html

… I also found that configuring the server for Office 2016 activations wasn’t as straight forward as using the VAMT tool so this blog post serves to demonstrate the steps to get a KMS server activating desktops with Office 2016.

Begin by logging into the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center at:

https://www.microsoft.com/Licensing/servicecenter/default.aspx

… then search for Office Professional Plus 2016 Key Management Service Host to obtain the package:

Office Professional Plus/Standard 2016 32 Bit English KMS

image

Extract the ISO package to your KMS server:

SW_DVD5_Office_Professional_Plus_2016_W32_English_KMS_MLF_X20-42865.iso

image

Then execute kms_host.vbs:

image

image

The Volume Activation Tools wizard will now launch:

image

Proceed through the wizard and install the unique Office 2016 KMS key:

image

image

Activate the product key:

image

image

Restart the Software Protection service:

image

At this point, the KMS server should now be able to activate Office 2016 desktops. Note that you need atleast 5 Office 2016 desktops with a unique CMIDs before the KMS server will activate the installations.  The following information entry in the Key Management Service logs indicate the threshold has not been met:

image

An activation request has been processed.

Info:

0xC004F042,5,WIN10P-023.domain.com,fa366b19-c48b-4ef8-a1bb-2f4718b477b3,2015/12/23 13:01,0,2,24510,d450596f-894d-49e0-966a-fd39ed4c4c64

image

Once the threshold of 5 has been met, the following informational log will be written:

image

An activation request has been processed.

Info:

0x0,5,WIN10P-022.domain.com,e35750c1-aca7-417d-859e-490bf1e61bce,2015/12/23 15:30,0,2,24362,d450596f-894d-49e0-966a-fd39ed4c4c64

image

Also note that I did not find the Volume Activation Management Tool useful for Office 2016 activations as attempting to install or activate installations would throw the following error:

A licensing provider for the specified product cannot be foundParameter name: product

image

5 comments:

JayDanLei said...

Hello Terence and thank you for this post. When I use VAT and select Activation Type KMS, and put in my key for Office Pro Plus 2016 at the Product Key Management section ("Install your KMS host key") and hit commit I get a box that tells me it will uninstall the existing product key on the KMS host (2012, not R2) and install the one I have entered. This differs from your screen shot that just says Activate Product. Is this because in your example this is a new KMS server? Mine is not brand new.....been using it for a few years.

Ratheesh KP said...

i was trying to configure existing KMS server for Office 2016 activation. getting an "operation timed out" error when trying to activate online. (one of the activation options available). please help.

After i run the vbs , there was a message, that it need a windows update. i have manually download and installed that particular update, but the result is same.

Anonymous said...

Perfect! good job, just followed your directions and took about 10 minutes in total.

Also, I simply called Microsoft licensing and requested my KMS key for my new Open License agreement for Office which will come with MAK keys by default, and they added the KMS key and this took about another 10 minutes.

Whole process was easy!

jade said...

Customers can purchase Office directly from Microsoft or through an authorized retail outlet or partner. More information on Office and how to sign up for a free trial is available at Jumpstart Business Centres

Unknown said...

Office 2016 Product Key

To buy a genuine product key, go to the site http://www.MsKeyHome.com/ . This is definitely not like some sites which will make you worry about the purchasing safety. The payment process is confidential and guaranteed. More importantly, the product is genuine and with attractive price.

Office 2016 Product Key