Reactivating Windows and Microsoft Office on Your Laptop

If you have a department-issued laptop, both Windows and Office will need to connect to the license server (KMS) at least once every 6 months (180 days) to remain active. If you are asked to reactivate them, please follow the instructions below:

Automatic Background Reactivation

The next simplest option is to connect your laptop to the University VPN (or the "MATHS" Wi-Fi network in the building) and leave it connected for at least 2 hours - Windows should automatically renew the license in the background.

Please note: The "MATHS" Wi-Fi network has a very limited IP address pool, so we ask that you use "eduroam" for day-to-day usage and only connect to "MATHS" when required.

Manual Reactivation Steps

If you prefer to perform reactivation manually, you can use the following steps.

If you are in the building, connect to the "MATHS" Wi-Fi network using your Maths login. If not, connect to the University VPN using the Cisco Secure Client with your SSO login. For detailed instructions, see the IT Services website. (If you get the error message "Validation failure", cancel the connection and try again.)

Click the Start menu, search for "Command Prompt". Right-click it and select "Run as administrator". Enter your Administrator password if prompted to do so.

Reactivate Windows

Enter the following command (and press Enter) to ensure the Windows KMS server is set correctly:

cscript "%SystemRoot%\system32\slmgr.vbs" /skms kms0.ox.ac.uk

It should display "Key Management Service machine name set to kms0.ox.ac.uk successfully".

Enter the following command to reactivate Windows:

cscript "%SystemRoot%\system32\slmgr.vbs" /ato

It should display "Product activated successfully". (If you get an error such as "No Key Management Service (KMS) could be contacted", double-check that you are connected to the VPN and try again, or contact IT Support for assistance.)

Reactivate Office

Enter the following command to ensure the Microsoft Office HMS server is set correctly:

cscript "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.vbs" /sethst:kms0.ox.ac.uk

It should display "Successfully applied setting" in the Command Prompt window.

Enter the following command to reactivate Microsoft Office:

cscript "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.vbs" /act

It should display "Product activation successful" in the Command Prompt window. (If you get an error such as "No Key Management Service (KMS) could be contacted", double-check that you are connected to the VPN and try again, or contact IT Support for assistance.)

Cleaning Up

Close the Command Prompt window.

If you connected to the "MATHS" Wi-Fi network, switch back to "eduroam". If you connected to the University VPN, you may disconnect now.

You may also need to restart any Microsoft Office applications you have open.

Support

If you have trouble with any of these methods, please contact IT Support, including details of the steps you have tried and the full text (or screenshot) of any error messages.