Scenario: Office Activation

• Applies to:

  Microsoft 365

The Office Activation scenario automates checks and recovery activities to reset activation-related settings and successfully activate a subscription version of Office.

In the full version of the Assistant, the equivalent entry point for this scenario is Office & Office Apps \ I've installed a subscription version of Office, but I can't activate it.

Note: This scenario requires that you use an elevated Command Prompt window. To do this, select Start, enter cmd, right-click Command Prompt in the results, and then select Run as administrator.

Download the Enterprise version of the Assistant

Select the following button:

Download the Assistant

For complete details about how to run the Enterprise version of the Assistant, see Enterprise version of Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant.

Available switches for the Office Activation scenario

The following switches are available for this scenario. They aren't case-sensitive. Unless noted as optional, the switches are required to run the scenario. You can use more than one optional switch.

Switch <parameter>	Details	Required/Optional
-S <scenarioname>	Specify this switch and OfficeActivationScenario as the value for the scenarioname parameter to run this scenario.	Required
-AcceptEula	Specify this switch to accept the End User License Agreement (EULA) and run this scenario.	Required
-CloseOffice	Specify this switch to close all Office apps that are running.	Required
-RemoveSCA	Specify this switch to remove Shared Computer Activation (SCA) and to configure non-SCA activation for Office.	Optional

Sample commands

Here are some sample combinations of switches to run the Office Activation scenario.

• Sample 1

  To make sure that the requirements for Office activation are met, and to prepare for successful activation at the next startup of an Office app, run the following command in an elevated Command Prompt window:

  SaRAcmd.exe -S OfficeActivationScenario -AcceptEula -CloseOffice
  

• Sample 2

  To do the same steps as in sample 1, and also remove SCA if it's enabled, run the following command in an elevated Command Prompt window:

  SaRAcmd.exe -S OfficeActivationScenario -AcceptEula -CloseOffice -RemoveSCA
  

Detected conditions and results

When you run the Office Activation scenario by using the Enterprise version of the Assistant, you don't receive any prompts. This is a different experience from the full version of the Assistant. The following table describes the actions that the Enterprise version of the Assistant takes for each condition that's encountered in this scenario, and the corresponding output that is displayed.

Condition	Action taken by the Enterprise version	Output shown in the Command Prompt window
The user didn't include the -CloseOffice switch	Exit the scenario	01: This scenario requires the -CloseOffice switch. Note, if Office is running, the -CloseOffice switch closes Office applications. For additional information, please visit https://aka.ms/SaRA_CommandLineVersion.
Office isn't installed	Exit the scenario	30: Could not find an installed version of Office
Office subscription not found	Exit the scenario	31: Could not find a subscription version of Office. Please see https://aka.ms/SaRA-Cmdline-NoSubscriptionFoun for troubleshooting information.
Device subscription detected.	Exit the scenario	32: Device subscription detected. See https://aka.ms/SaRA_DeviceActivationDetectedCmd for troubleshooting and configuration information.
The Assistant isn't running in an elevated mode	Exit the scenario	33: This scenario requires an elevated command-prompt.
Shared Computer Activation (SCA) is enabled for Office but the -RemoveSCA switch is not specified	Exit the scenario	34: Shared Computer Activation (SCA) is enabled for Office. Please use the -RemoveSCA switch if you want this scenario to remove SCA and configure non-SCA activation for Office. Otherwise, use the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeActivation-CmdLine.
Failure to complete the scenario (for any reason)	Exit the scenario	35: We ran into a problem. Please run the Office Activation scenario in the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeActivation-CmdLine.
Scan completed successfully	Exit the scenario	36: Successful run. Start any Office app and sign-in to activate.
Office is already activated	Exit the scenario	37: It looks like Microsoft Office is already activated. If you don't think this is correct, please run the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeActivation-CmdLine.
Can't successfully activate Office	Exit the scenario	38: The message varies depending on the reason for the failure to activate Office.
Can't activate Office	Exit the scenario	39: Office may not be activated. Please run the Office Activation scenario in the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeActivation-CmdLine.