VDI-in-a-Box Best Practices for Microsoft Office Activation

This article contains information about VDI-in-a-Box best practices for Microsoft Office Activation.

Requirements

• VDI-in-a-Box 5.x

• Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010

Background

This article is intended to provide information regarding Microsoft Office activation with VDI-in-a-Box. The behavior may differ when using different types of Volume Licensing with Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows. Although the behavior is??not specific to VDI-in-a-Box, expected behavior is explained so customers can better understand the available choices.

As always, ensure to check with Microsoft to see if there are any changes to Volume Licensing or activation methods with any Office products. We will discuss the installation and activation behavior of Microsoft Office in this document. There are steps that can be optionally taken to customize the MS Office installation, such as automatically creating MS Outlook accounts/profiles, suppressing Office updates, suppressing the Office privacy options screen, and much more. Refer to VDI-in-a-Box Best Practices: Deploying Microsoft Office for more information.

Some of the different options available with VDI-in-a-Box and Microsoft Office is as shown in the table:

Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft Office 2007 can be deployed on VDI-in-a-Box desktops just like installing on a physical machine. The Volume Activation used by Office 2007 is different from Office 2010 and only requires a product key. The behavior will be the same when running MS Office 2007 on Windows XP or Windows 7 desktops in a VDI-in-a-Box deployment.

Installing in a VDI-in-a-Box Deployment

The primary objective with VDI-in-a-Box is to ensure the copy of MS Office 2007 is updated and activated on the golden image before it is published. If for any reason Office is not activated on the golden image, users will be prompted to activate. This can be cumbersome if using dynamic desktops that are refreshed on a regular basis, as users will be prompted for activation after each refresh.

Complete the following steps to ensure Office 2007 is installed and activated properly:

1. Edit and log on to the VDI-in-a-Box golden image.

2. Install MS Office 2007 with a valid Product Key and run updates as usual.

3. Launch any of the MS Office applications while logged into draft copy of the golden image.

4. Open the MS Office Ribbon > Options > Resources and click Activate.

5. Save and publish the golden image.

6. Logon to a desktop and confirm MS Office applications are activated. This can be accomplished by opening any of the MS Office applications > MS Office Ribbon > Options > Resources and click About or Activate. A confirmation window will appear stating Office is already activated.

Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 comes in two Volume Licensed suites when more than five licenses are required: Office Standard 2010 and Office Professional Plus 2010 (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/office-2010-volume-licensing-suites-comparison-FX101825637.aspx).

KMS Activation

This type of Office activation is preferred and always for many simultaneous activations. Office can be activated using the same KMS Host used by the Windows machines using KMS activations. Unlike Windows 7 activations which require at least 25 requests to activate, Office 2010 only requires 5 requests to activate when using KMS.

Using KMS for both Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office works like a charm and typically requires no modification of the Office installation. However, it is important to trigger the activation on the golden image before publishing it. This can be accomplished by following these steps:

1. Edit and log on to the VDI-in-a-Box golden image.

2. Install Office 2010 and run updates as usual.

3. Open the Command Prompt and browse to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14 (For 64-bit machines the path will be Program Files (x86).

4. Specify KMS Host: cscript ospp.vbs /sethst:<KMS_Host>

   Example: cscript ospp.vbs /sethst:kms01.company.com

5. Trigger MS Office activation: cscript ospp.vbs /act

6. Confirm licensing status: cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus

7. Save the golden image.

8. Enable Fast Desktop Refresh for the image (ViaB 5.1 has this item configured at template level).

9. Log on to a desktop and confirm Office 2010 is activated by running the command from Step 6. Optionally, activation status can be found via any Office 2010 application > File > Help screen.

MAK Activation

This type of Office activation works well when using persistent desktops in VDI-in-a-Box. Persistent desktops are not refreshed so an administrator does not need to worry about desktops going through Sysprep regularly and consuming additional MAK licenses. Microsoft recommends using MAK if there are less than 50 computers in the environment, although there is no technical limit.

Follow these steps to ensure MS Office 2010 with a MAK license is activated properly:

1. Edit and log on to the VDI-in-a-Box golden image.

2. Install Office 2010 and run updates as usual.

3. Open any of the MS Office applications.

4. Go to the File > Help menu and select Change Product Key.

5. Enter the MS Office Product Key and give it a few moments to validate with Microsoft.

6. Click Continue.

7. Save the golden image.

8. Enable Fast Desktop Refresh for the image (ViaB 5.1 has this item configured at template level).

9. Log on to a desktop and confirm Office 2010 is activated by opening any Office 2010 application > File > Help screen.

Additional Resources

Microsoft Office 2010 Volume Activation

Deploying Office 2010

Microsoft Office Activation Wizard FAQ

KMS Count is not increasing (TechNot Blog)

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