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TechNet Tips assist you with Office 2010 volume activation and more

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If you are already familiar with Office 2010 administration and need a quick solution, TechNet Office 2010 tips will help you set up Office 2010 products and features. New tips are added periodically. The following tips can help to easily activate your Office 2010 volume licensed clients:

Understand and Plan Your Office 2010 Volume Activation Options. This complements Plan volume activation of Office 2010.  Included in this tip is the following information about the two main approaches for volume activation:

 

    • Key Management Service (KMS) This approach establishes a local activation service hosted in your own environment. To do this, you must configure a system on your network to serve as the KMS host by installing and activating a KMS host key. Client systems throughout your organization then connect to the local Office 2010 KMS host for activation.
    • Multiple Activation Key (MAK) In this approach, client computers activate Office 2010 online by using the Microsoft hosted activation servers or by telephone.

In many cases, businesses will want to use a mixed approach, using different strategies to target systems that fit different scenarios. For instance, a small branch office, remote workers, and desktops at the main headquarters may all benefit from different activation methods.

Configure a KMS Host for Office 2010 Volume Activation. This complements the Prepare and configure the KMS host section in Deploy volume activation of Office 2010 . Included in this tip is a procedure to configure a KMS host: 

Configure Your KMS Host

  1. First you must download and run the Microsoft Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack tool on the system that will act as your KMS host.
  2. Read and accept the license terms if you want to continue with the installation.
    kms1.jpg
  3. After the Host License Pack has been installed successfully, select Yes to enter your host product key and continue with activation.
    kms2.jpg
  4. Enter your KMS host key.
    kms3.jpg
  5. Continue with the activation.
  6. If you have a firewall enabled, follow these steps to allow KMS through the firewall:
    • Go to Control Panel and open Windows Firewall.
    • Click the Allow A Program Through Windows Firewall link.
    • Click the Change Settings button.
    • Select the Key Management Service option
    • Click OK.
      kms4.jpg

Let Standard Users Override KMS and Enter MAK Keys. This complements Prepare and configure the Office 2010 client in Deploy volume activation of Office 2010. You do this by making a simple change to either the Config.xml file or a registry key as shown here:

By default, all volume license editions of Office 2010 disable this behavior. To enable this behavior, simply add the following line to the Config.xml file:
<Setting Id="USEROPERATIONS" Value="1" />

Or, you can set the following registry key to enable or disable standard user (a user who is not an administrator) activation:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftOfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform]
Enable Standard User Activation: "UserOperations"=dword:00000001
Disable Standard User Activation: "UserOperations"=dword:00000000 (Office 2010 volume license products default setting)

 

Check out more quick solutions for Office 2010 products and features at Office 2010 Tips.