The leaked Office 15 (2012 or 2014) M2 build version 15.0.2703.1000 activation mechanism has not been undergoing major overhaul or change, yet, when comparing with Office 2010. And the Office 15 M2 distribution channel belongs to OfficeMondoVL_KMS_Client1 edition of volume licensing channel, which requires activation through a KMS (Key Management Service) or MAK (Multiple Activation Key). As the result, Office 15 M2 can also be activated with hack which uses one of many KMS-based activators which available for Office 2010.

Similar to Office 2010 volume license (VL) edition, Office 15 M2 does not require a product key during installation. A default generic KMS client volume license key (GVLK) will be automatically installed, which grant 30 days activation free usage period. User can choose to rearm Office to reset the grace period back to 30 days when the current grace period almost runs out, or activate the Office system via KMS or MAK.

What’s lacking is an activated KMS host to validate the Office 15, as availability of MAK product keys for Office 15 is out of question currently unless you’re few selected internal testers. All the KMS activators for Office 2010 contains a KMS emulator that acts just like an official KMS server. These KMS activators work in such a way that it will install and run a KMS emulator as service, permanently or temporarily, that will receive and response to activation request from Office 2010 (and Office 15).

The activators will also issue appropriate commands to trigger the action of Office against KMS service as well, or change to appropriate product key if needed. Normally, the installed Office product of VL channel with the default product key can be activated against a KMS server without any input or change of product key.

Activated Office 15 (2012/2014)

Here’s a list of KMS activators which known to support Office 15 M2:

  1. WOAT OEM/KMS Activator

    Use KMS Emulator to Activate Office 15

  2. Office 2010 Toolkit and EZ-Activator

    Activate Office 15 with KMS Activator

The following KMS activators check for the existence of Office 2010 Volume (VOL) edition, and hence without Office 2010 volume edition installed on the computer, these KMS activators cannot detect installed copy of Office 15 M2, at least for now until the crack utilities been updated. When no supported Office volume edition is detected, the program will exit.

  1. mini-KMS Activator v1.31 (mini-KMS Activator 1.072 appears to have no check, and can install the KMS service, although you need to manually enter the activate command)
  2. IORRT (via Trilogy)

If you intend to activate the Office 15 M2 yourself, follow below step-by-step hacktivation guide:

  1. Download mini-KMS Activator (mKMSAct) version 1.072 (mini-KMS_Activator_v1.072_EN.exe) which unlike its version 1.31 sibling, works even though without Office 2010 installed. The mini-KMS Activator is used to install a KMS emulator (ZWT KMS-Keygen) emulator as service.

    Alternatively, download the basic ZWT KMS emulator: ZWT.rar

  2. Extract and run the mKMSAct.exe as Administrator. Then, click on Install / Uninstall KMService to install the KMS host as system service.

    Or, if you download the alternative ZWT KMS emulator, run the Keygen.exe as Administrator (and do not close the window until activation is done).

    Make sure to allow the program the required firewall access or disable the firewall if required.

  3. Run a Command Prompt as Administrator, and issue the following command to the IP address of KMS host to local host where the KMS emulator is run:

    cscript “%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ospp.vbs” /sethst:127.0.0.1

    or in 64-bit (x64) Windows:

    cscript “%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ospp.vbs” /sethst:127.0.0.1

    Set KMS Host IP Address

  4. Optional: The Office 15 M2 uses a generic product key which last 5 characters are 38W9R that meant for KMS activation. If you want, you can execute the following command to re-apply the product key:

    cscript “%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ospp.vbs” /inpkey:YBJTT-JG6MD-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

    or in 64-bit (x64) Windows:

    cscript “%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ospp.vbs” /inpkey:YBJTT-JG6MD-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

  5. Type the following command and hit Enter to activate Office 15 against KMS emulator:

    cscript “%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ospp.vbs” /act

    or in 64-bit (x64) Windows:

    cscript “%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ospp.vbs” /act

    Activate Office 15 via ospp.vbs

    Wait until the activation status of “product activation successful” is returned. Sometimes activation may fail as the activation code generated by the KMS emulator is not always correct. In this case, just run the command again to retry unless you get a successful activation.

    If you’re using ZWT KMS emulator, the screen will also display “Windows 7 activation code is delivered successfully”.

    The command will try to re-activate all Office products that are installed, so make sure you’re looking at the correct entry. Ignore the error of other non-Office 15 applications which may not be volume version, or already activated.

  6. To confirm activation status, use the following command:

    cscript “%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ospp.vbs” /dstatus

    or in 64-bit (x64) Windows:

    cscript “%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office15\ospp.vbs” /dstatus

    Office 15 (2012/2014) Activation Status

  7. Office 15 M2 is now activated with remaining grace period as 180 days. It’s a behavior of KMS activation that the client must re-validate and re-activate every 180 days from KMS.

    On first run after activation, it will ask you to accept and agree to a Microsoft Office license agreement to delivery software updates, probably for Click-to-Run technology rather than pre-release Office 15.

    Agree Microsoft Office License Agreement

  8. You can now uninstall the KMS service, or close the KMS emulator window. But you have repeat the process again (just need to run the /act command with KMS service or emulator running) after 180 days when current activation status expires.