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Matthew J. Moore
Matthew J. Moore

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Checking Office activation from the command line with ospp.vbs

#microsoft #office #windows #tutorial

Everyone knows slmgr for Windows activation, but fewer people know Office has its own equivalent. It's called ospp.vbs and it's been sitting in the Office folder this whole time.

I use it constantly when someone tells me Word says "Unlicensed Product" and the File, Account page isn't giving any useful detail.

Where it lives

For a normal 64-bit Office install (Office 2016 and later all use the Office16 folder):

cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16"
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If you're on 32-bit Office on 64-bit Windows, it's under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16 instead. Like slmgr, run it from an admin prompt and through cscript so the output prints in the console.

/dstatus: what's installed and is it licensed? 

cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus
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This lists every Office license on the machine, with the name, the license status and the last five characters of each installed key. Two things I look for straight away:

  • More than one license block. Very common on laptops that came with a Microsoft 365 trial. Someone installs Office 2021 on top and now there are two products fighting each other. This is the number one cause of "Unlicensed Product" I see.
  • The LICENSE NAME line. It tells you whether you're on a retail or volume license, which matters for how it should be activated.

/inpkey and /act: put a key in and activate 

cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
cscript ospp.vbs /act
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Same idea as slmgr /ipk then /ato on Windows. If /act fails, it gives you an error code, so note it down.

/unpkey: remove an old key

If /dstatus shows a leftover license you don't want (an expired trial, an old key), remove it using the last five characters shown:

cscript ospp.vbs /unpkey:AB123
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Do this before activating the one you actually want, otherwise Office can keep checking the wrong license.

A caveat

ospp.vbs is most useful for volume and standalone retail installs. Microsoft 365 subscriptions are licensed through your account sign-in, so for those the answer is usually on the File, Account page rather than in here.

My usual order

  1. /dstatus to see everything that's installed.
  2. Remove anything that shouldn't be there with /unpkey, or uninstall the extra Office product from Settings, Apps.
  3. Quick Repair from Settings, Apps if things still look off.
  4. /inpkey and /act for the license you actually want.

Nothing fancy, but it turns a vague "Unlicensed Product" banner into something you can actually work with.

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