Hi. I'm trying to make a "thin" install for Office 2010 using VMWare ThinApp (so Office doesn't "bloat" my SO). The only problem is that when I start the exe made by ThinApp is saying that I have 30 days to activate Office. But I already activated Office using KMS. My guess is that Office "thinks" that it was started in another computer and therefore it needs to be reactivated... Obviously the "virtual computer" in which Office starts is a standard one and can't be modified to emulate the hardware from the "host" computer (especially on ANY computer). On ThinApp's forum there are a lot of upset users that don't like this but the developers can't do much... Any ideas on how to solve this? Best regards, Catalin
interresting, I tried to do the same thing as you but the "software protection platform or whatever" service crashed my thinapp version, Did you get past that ? Anyway I found another office suite that can be thinapped: IBM lotus symphony ( it's based on open office but it supports docx and pptx better and it doesn't require java )
It crashed mine too but I used this guide and it did not crash anymore: hxxp://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2011/02/quick-start-guide-for-deploying-office-2010-using-thinapp-461.html Thank you for the suggestion.
is the 30 day limit really a problem ? Does deleting the settings folder created by the thinapped exe reset the timer to 30 days ? If yes you can just keep it in eternal trial. If it works I will dump my ibm lotus and try your guide. edit: now i'm all fired up I'm launching my portable virtualbox !
Basically, to keep ThinApped Office Professional Plus 2010 activated you need to set the KMS Host Server address during the ThinApp packaging process. You can use a 'real' KMS server address or the ZWT keygen server address (127.0.0.1). My explanation below assumes you'll be using the ZWT keygen, which I package with Office 2010 for a complete self contained package. This method takes advantage of the fact that the KMS client (Office 2010) automatically searches for the KMS host at the address set (127.0.0.1) and attempts activation/reactivation. Just follow the guide for 'Capturing Office 2010 on Windows XP SP3 with Volume Activation (KMS) installer' at blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2011/02/quick-start-guide-for-deploying-office-2010-using-thinapp-461.html and between step 10 and 11 do the following: (1) Copy the ZWT keygen to the root of C: drive - do not open at this point. (2) Open a command prompt and enter: For 32-bit Windows: cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OSPP.VBS" /sethst:127.0.0.1 For 64-bit Windows: cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\OSPP.VBS" /sethst:127.0.0.1 This sets the desired KMS server, and you should see a message to that effect. Close the command box, and continue with steps 11 to 15. When creating the package, create an entry point for the keygen which is now on the root of C: drive. For example, I have entry points for Excel, Winword and the keygen, you may want more, depending on your installation.. Now, once you have Office 2010 packaged, copy the bin folder out of the VM to your desktop, and close the VM. Fire up Winword from within the bin folder and it'll open and tell you that it's not activated and that you have 30 days left to activate. Just close this dialog box, and close WinWord. At this point double click on the keygen (which you created an entry point for) and leave its command window open, and open Winword again. Continue to close and reopen Winword, checking under File - help for activation status until it activates. It shouldn't take more than a few times before it tells you that it is activated. There may be other ways to skin this cat. For the time being I think this is the cleanest way. Lemme know how it goes for you. ZWT KMS Keygen: Size: 76.0 KB (77,824 bytes) File: Keygen.exe CRC-32: bb5638c1 MD4: 312a47fb3084ae5f0383ffa659a7b401 MD5: b3b9295385f4e74d023181e5a24f4d83 SHA-1: 191d401b0afdb39aa6a6b6c2dfb366e5e64be2ba Created with the HashCheck Shell Extension. HashTab is cool, too.
Ok, thanks, I will try but is there a way to "capture" the activation also..? So I don't have to use the keygen every time I reinstall Windows...? Later edit: I tried and seems to work . Thank you again.
OK, glad it's working for you, and thanks for the feedback. And to answer your question, no, I don't think you can 'capture' the activation, you'll have to activate/reactivate it once you move it out of the VM.
Maybe you're right, but I'm thinking of "capturing" the differences in registry and files (between "before" and "after") on the real computer (but in the "virtualized" application) and then integrating them into the package. There are many programs for that... Or I can "decompile" the package (that is activated) and recompile it with the changes made by the activation. I've done this before... It's a long shot, I know but I think it's worth testing... Later edit: I gave the idea also to a friend of mine but he tried to activate more thab 30 times without success. His Office 2010 is activating without problems on my computer but not on his. What could be the problem...?
About your friend, this stuff can be a lot of trial and error until you work it out...I've read that this keygen can be finicky...what kind of system is your friend using, and what's yours? I've tried on Windows 7 (32/64 bit) and XP Pro (32 bit)...but hmmm...your friend could try: 1) Run keygen.exe as admin (make sure to allow access for it, disable firewall and AV if needed). 2) Delete the sandbox folders that ThinApp creates on its first run, you can delete the Fonts folder, too, it'll just be remade. 3) Set the KMS host to 127.0.0.1:1688 when packaging Office 2010. Let me know how you make out.
He tried all 3, didn't worked. Apparently the problem is appearing randomly. Sometimes it helps to "recapture" Office, sometimes it doesn't. On some computers the captured installation works, on others it doesn't. The different IP doesn't help at all, the keygen is not reacting when I start Word. On normal installations sometimes it helps rearming Office or deleting registry entries but here I can't use them. Any advice...?
I can't give you any specific advice about your case, but maybe it would be interesting for you if I told you about my problems with ThinApp and Office 2010. I haven't had trouble getting activated, at least initially, but I've had some other problems. First of all, I capture my Office 2010 packages in a clean 32bit XP Pro VM, and I run the packages off a USB 2.0 stick. Just so you know. On Windows 7 32/64 (non VM) no problems running the apps or activating. Activating on XP and then running on Windows 7 is also ok. The problems I've had occur on XP (non VM). Problem #1 - I run and activate the package on Windows 7, then try to run it on an XP system. The app (WinWord) will not start at all, I get error messages about missing DLLs that cannot be found. Solution - I delete the sandbox and then I'm able to run the apps and activate. End of problem. Problem #2 - I run and activate the package on XP, using WinWord, for example. No problem there, but when, for example, I close WinWord and run Excel, and then reopen WinWord, sometimes the Office Protection Platform Service (OSPPSVC) kicks in and tells me that there is a problem and it needs to repair the installation. I cancel the repair which results in: 'Microsoft Office cannot verify the license for this application. A repair attempt failed or was canceled by the user. The application will now shut down' and it shuts down. If I try to delete the sandbox, there are some processes still active preventing deletion. I think the OSPPSVC kicks in because multiple instances of an Office App are active at the same time. It seems that in some cases closing an Office App doesn't always terminate it, and opening a new instance of the app causes things to get strange, and OSPPSVC kicks in. And, when Office 2010 shuts down this way (thru OSPPSVC) the processes continue to remain active. Sort of a vicious cycle. Solution - I go into Task Manager and manually terminate the processes, for example, I find and terminate Excel.exe, WinWord.exe, the big ~ .dat file (I named mine 'Office 2010.dat' during packaging), and any other Office Apps that are active. As a last resort, I just reboot to terminate these processes instead of using Task Manager . Then I'm able to restart the Office App without deleting the sandbox and the app is still activated from the initial activation. This has only happened on an old low spec XP Pro system. I'm not sure why this happens. On the same note, about activation, I've noticed that activating on a low spec system using a slow USB drive will take time, up to five minutes, so you have to be patient. Anyway, hope some of this helps.
I have a fast USB HDD (500 GB) but I use Office 2010 on internal HDD. I virtualized it because I wanted to protect my Windows not use Office on other computers. I haven't had problem like this... Anyway I don't recommend using it on USB stick, they are too slow and Office 2010 is too big. Have you enabled compression and is enabled for all files? The SandBox is in AppData or on stick? You should write about your problems on ThinApp forum, maybe someone has a solution or they will fix it in the next version.
Yep, I enabled compression and the SandBox is on the stick. It runs OK on a reasonably current Windows 7 system using a faster USB 2.0 stick. USB 3.0 flash would be better, but I haven't run across any systems with USB 3.0. I just wanted to try a slow USB drive on an old XP system to see what would happen, and I found out that things work, but sometimes not so well. It's not a big deal, I'm just doing this out of curiosity, I don't actually need Office 2010 on a stick. You're absolutely right about Office 2010 being too big. Wow, 2.88 GB for a few Office 2010 Apps, Net Framework 3.5, and a Language Pack. Bloat City! There's a saying about it that goes: 'What Intel Giveth, Microsoft Taketh Away' So true. That's a good idea about the forum though, I should do that. Do you think I should mention that I use the ZWT Keygen to activate it?
Well, when you'll need it some day on a stick, since the activation works only for that Windows and for that computer I would recommend that you place the SandBox in AppData. I know, this way it will not be 100% portable but I think it's a better choice. Maybe in a future ThinApp version we will be able to place only the activation files in AppData... Sure, why not
Sorry for bumping this thread. However, does anyone know of a workaround so I do not need to install the Office2010AppVKit which adds the Office Software Protection Platform service (osppsvc) to the system? Without it, I cannot run office because of the message that reads "Microsoft Office cannot verify the license for this application. A repair attempt failed or was canceled by the user. The application will now shut down" The purpose of modularizing these apps is so I can isolate all the program files, but M$ loves to shove this crap down our throats to "combat piracy." Really sad, but if anyone knows of a workaround that they would like to share, that will be much appreciated.
No problem. Try to use this guide:hxxp://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2011/02/quick-start-guide-for-deploying-office-2010-using-thinapp-461.html This will solve the problem with the error message. And this will solve the activation problem: