Active Directory-based activation of Office 2013

  • Article

 

Applies to: Office 2013

Summary: Describes the basics of Active Directory-based activation of Office 2013 clients.

Audience: IT Professionals

Active Directory-based activation (ADBA) enables an enterprise to activate Office 2013 clients on computers in the corporate network through a connection to the domain. When a user joins a computer to the domain, the ADBA object automatically activates Office 2013 installed on the computer, as long as the computer has a Generic Volume License Key (GVLK) installed. No single physical computer is required to act as the activation object, because it is distributed throughout the domain. For more information about Active Directory-based activation, see Active Directory-Based Activation Overview.

Activate Active Directory-based clients

Active Directory-based activation of Office applies only for Office 2013 clients that run on Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2012 R2. Active Directory-based activation uses the same client product key and host key that are used by KMS. By using Active Directory-based activation, the Software Protection Platform Service (SPPSvc) periodically attempts to activate the product key against either an Activation Object (AO) in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or a discoverable KMS host if the Active Directory-based activation attempt fails. A successful Active Directory-based activation grants a license to the Office 2013 client for 180 days.

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

Set up an Active Directory-based activation host for Office 2013

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

  2. Double-click the downloaded file to run the Volume Activation Tools wizard.

  3. On the first page, choose Next, and on the Select Volume Activation Method page, choose Active Directory-Based Activation.

    Manage Activation Objects page

  4. On the Manage Activation Objects page, enter the KMS host key and optionally give it a name.

  5. Choose activation method, online or phone, and then follow the rest of the wizard instructions.

  6. When you’re done, an Activation Succeeded page will display.

See also

Plan volume activation of Office 2013
GVLKs for KMS and Active Directory activation of Office 2013