Office 2013

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Last updated: May 16, 2014 by Jeremy.Alston_FollansbeeVersion comment

Activation

Microsoft Office Professional 2013 KMS offered through Tufts is activated automatically when the installer package used has KMS settings (package is located in the software$ share).

In cases when the computer is not joined to the domain, and the installer used has not been modified to have Tufts KMS settings, the autodiscovery will not work and the activation will fail.

For KMS activation to work correctly:

  • either use the KMS install files which has the kms host set.
  • if the unmodified installer files are used, the system must be joined to the tufts domain for auto discovery to work. Otherwise, the kms host must be set manually using /sethst.

The official hostname for KMS is uitsckms.uit.tufts.edu.

Troubleshooting

How to check if my computer has the proper DNS suffix

  1. From the Start Menu, go to Control Panel > System.
  2. In the Advanced System Settings >Computer name tab, click More and check Primary DNS Suffix for the computer
  3. The Primary DNS suffix of this computer should show  tufts.ad.tufts.edu. If it doesn't, enter tufts.ad.tufts.edu and click OK.

Performing DNS lookup

Office activation uses DNS lookup to locate the Key Management Service (KMS); if DNS lookup doesn't find the KMS server, office will not activate.

You can test DNS lookup from a command prompt like cmd.exe, using the following "nslookup" command:

nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp

The successful output will look similar to this:

_vlmcs._tcp.localdomain
SRV service location:
priority = 0
weight = 0
port = 1688
svr hostname = uitsckms.uit.tufts.edu

If DNS lookup cannot locate the KMS server, Office will not be able to activate.

  • Error code 0x8007007B can indicate this problem.
  • Setting the Primary DNS suffix, as described above, will often fix the problem.
  • Try to setup DNS manually 

In elevated prompt, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15 and execute

cscript ospp.vbs /sethst:uitsckms.uit.tufts.edu

then

cscript ospp.vbs /act

Verifying that outbound TCP port 1688 is open to the KMS server

Download and install the utility portqry.exe from Microsoft. It is a command line utility from Microsoft that reports the port status of a remote host.
From a command prompt, run the command:

portqry.exe -n uitsckms.uit.tufts.edu -p tcp -e 1688

The command will return "TCP port 1688 (unknown service): LISTENING" if the computer is able to communicate with the KMS server.

Information on the Tufts IT Knowledgebase is intended for IT Professionals at Tufts.
If you have a question about a Tufts IT service or computer/account support, please contact your IT support group.