MAK Office key and image cloning
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So, I've got a bunch of Surfaces, all of them identical on the hardware-level. I configure one of them as I see fit, create an harddisc image from it and then clone that image to all the other ones. Works fine in every way, save for Office 2016 which complains on every clone that the hardware has changed and that I need to activate it. Now, since it's a MAK that's not a huge problem but we might run into problems down the road.
Also, this means that I have to touch each Surface once after cloning the avoidance of which actually was the reason why I wanted to do cloning in the first place.
Anyone have an idea what I'm doing wrong and how I might avoid it?
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@Rhywden maybe look at not installing Office in the base image and then automate deployment of it through something like PDQ Deploy?
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@Polygeekery said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
PDQ Deploy
That would cost additonal money. Not an option for us.
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@Rhywden use the trial version to deploy, scrap it after.
Once you use it, they will find the $500 to buy it. It is super handy.
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@Polygeekery Sorry, but this is only for 25 Surfaces which are under my personal aegis for historical reasons. There's no way in hell they'll let me spend $500 per year just for that, particularly when we have another administration software already running.
In essence: Any software which costs money will be right out.
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@Rhywden said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
this is only for 25 Surfaces
Roll it in to your base image, don't enter the activation key, put the key on a USB drive in a txt file. It won't take very long to do.
I think you can script Office key installs. That's another option. Just run it once on each machine.
But for just 25 machines it isn't worth the trouble of setting up other solutions.
Since you mentioned other management softwares, can they do what you need? You might already have the tools you need to deploy this.
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@Polygeekery said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
Roll it in to your base image, don't enter the activation key, put the key on a USB drive in a txt file. It won't take very long to do.
I think you can script Office key installs. That's another option. Just run it once on each machine.I second this. If needed you could even do this with group policy and forego the USB drive (if these are domain-joined anyways).
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@Polygeekery I must've been a bit unclear: This cloning process will be a regular occurence on a roughly 3 months basis.
And this other software we have is very intrusive - it would make life easier, yes, but it currently has a problem with portable devices where it roughly halves battery life due to a watchdog process not letting the processor sleep.
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@Rhywden said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
I must've been a bit unclear: This cloning process will be a regular occurence on a roughly 3 months basis.
Ahhhhhh. Let me think about it then. How about a domain policy for those machines with a logon script to see if Office is activated and if not doing so?
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@Polygeekery Not possible through MAK I'm afraid. I'd need KMS for that if I saw that right.
Then again, our "big" solution also relies on cloning. I'll ask our techs how the other solution manages to not run into this activation issue.
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@Rhywden I'm assuming you are currently using something like Clonezilla to capture the base images. In a perfect world you'd use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit to build and maintain your images. However the documentation for that is all over the place and is more black-magic than trying to write a Windows Installer with the MSI API.
You may be a bit SOL with MAK activation. Looks like docs say you get n-activations then told to pound sand. I suppose you could try and do a Logon local GPO script that tries to match the MAC Address to the MAK license for the hardware but I don't know how well that would scale.
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@Rhywden said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
I'll ask our techs how the other solution manages to not run into this activation issue.
Alternatively! An OOBE script that inserts the key at first boot.
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@Tsaukpaetra The key is not the problem, that I can insert into the Office setup image I have. It's the activation which comes afterwards.
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@Rhywden said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
@Tsaukpaetra The key is not the problem, that I can insert into the Office setup image I have. It's the activation which comes afterwards.
Right, but you're activating it before taking the image (if I read you right) and so that's why it's getting pissy.
Otherwise your installation wouldn't complain that the hardware was changed, since activation did not occur for it to have taken the hardware list.
TLDR: insert the key without activating and then take the image and see if that preempts everything above.
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@Rhywden KMS would fix the issue. Why aren't you using that?
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@Polygeekery said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
@Rhywden KMS would fix the issue. Why aren't you using that?
Probably a remnant from before my time at my school. I'll have a talk with our techs on Monday; then I'll know how this all came about and why MAK and not KMS.
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@Polygeekery Turns out that we do have KMS and I'll get the credentials for that soon.
I got MAK probably due to ... erm, sub-optimal presentation of my requirements.
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@Rhywden yeah, the MAK would have been expensive to use the way you were going to use it. Each time you re-imaged the computers you would have been burning money. :)
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@Polygeekery Good thing that I'm a clever guy then and did indeed recognize that this might be a problem before actually making it a problem
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@Rhywden said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
@Polygeekery Good thing that I'm a clever guy then and did indeed
recognize that this might be a problemask for advice before actually making it a problemFTFY
No criticism meant. No one can know everything which is why in tech it is mandatory to lean on the experiences of others.
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For others who run on this thread looking for similar solutions, I do not think it is necessary to use the paid edition of PDQ Deploy to install Office. If I am reading this correctly I think you can use the free edition to do so.
https://support.pdq.com/knowledge-base/1237
All caveats apply, IANAL, I read this before my morning coffee kicked in, etc.
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Been a while but we had quite a bit to do and then there were the summer holidays. Had been meaning to post an update but you know how it is.
So, I got the credentials for the KMS and activated one Surface's Office successfully through it. Here are the commands I'm to execute (CMD.exe as admin) - I didn't do much research so this is just me following what they said:
cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16 cscript.exe ospp.vbs /inpkey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX cscript.exe ospp.vbs /sethst:print-srv cscript.exe ospp.vbs /actAs I said, works fine for the "primary". The commands yield no errors and I can start Word etc. just fine.
I then cloned this one and deployed this image onto another Surface.
I promptly got this lovely screen upon starting Word:
The kicker? If I go into the Info page it tells me that Office was successfully activated? Also, I'm getting this screen every time I start Word. Repeating the commands detailed above also doesn't change anything...
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@Rhywden I mean, the problem is that you pre-installed the key.
Do you have a Windows Server on your site? Set up VAMT and have it maintain a database/cache of KMS keys so you don't keep using them up. I believe it's called a VAMT Proxy Activation scenario.
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@Captain I have no control over the servers.
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@Rhywden said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
cscript.exe ospp.vbs /act
I think this was the mistake. That means "activate this machine right here right now immediately!" and likely wrote machine-specific stuff somewhere that's ticking office off now that it's on another machine.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
@Rhywden said in MAK Office key and image cloning:
cscript.exe ospp.vbs /act
I think this was the mistake. That means "activate this machine right here right now immediately!" and likely wrote machine-specific stuff somewhere that's ticking office off now that it's on another machine.
I'll have a look at it.
