A Microsoft Key Management Server (KMS) is used to activate most Microsoft Office installations for University-owned machines at the Purdue Calumet, North Central, and West Lafayette campuses. Using a KMS avoids the need of entering a unique activation key for each install of Office at Purdue. The Office installation will automatically find Purdue's Key Management Server and obtain its license, and will continue to check into the license server at least once every seven days to make sure that it is still an authorized install of Microsoft Office.
Occasionally, a Office installation will fail to contact the server. Usually, this is due to a network communication problem between the machine and the KMS. The machine has to be on Purdue's network with no network firewall blocking TCP port 1688. Office will begin reducing functionality within 30 days if it fails to connect with the KMS server.
After correcting any networking issues that prevented communication with the KMS, follow these steps to make sure your Office installation is communicating with the KMS, and manually activate your product.
Depending on your version of Windows, you need to either go the Start Menu or Start Screen.
cmd. Windows will search for available files and applications with that name. In the search results, you will see either cmd.exe or Command Prompt.
Right-click on the cmd.exe / Command Prompt icon or tile. Select Run as administrator in either the pop up menu or the prompt along the bottom of the screen (Windows 8).
For Office 2010:
cd \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14
If you have the 32-bit version of Office, use cd \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14 instead.
For Office 2013:
cd \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15
If you have the 32-bit version of Office, use cd \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15 instead.
Next, type the following commands:
cscript ospp.vbs /sethst:kms01.itap.purdue.edu
and then
cscript ospp.vbs /act
Once activated via the KMS, your installation of Office will remain activate for 180 days, and attempt to renew at least once every seven days.