This article only applies to App Layering 29.1 and before.  In 19.2, the mechanism for getting the correct license changes to make it happen in the ELM, before the image boots.  So you no longer need to worry about versioning your published image vDisk when Office is installed.


When you initially publish your vDisk into PVS, Windows and Office activation are successful.  However, if you boot the vDisk in Private Mode or add a version to the vDisk in PVS, after you finish and assign the modified disk back to a Standard Mode target machine, Office activation is broken and Windows reports an invalid or missing product key.  When you run Office programs, they will attempt to Repair themselves because their product licensing information has been lost.

After the edit, C:\Windows\Setup\Scripts\ActivateOffice_log.txt will show an error like this at the bottom:

Wed 02/06/2019-13:15:54.67- Detected VDI operation; forcing office activation 
Wed 02/06/2019-13:15:54.73- Found File OfficeStd2016_KMS.txt - Activating OfficeStd2016_KMS 
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.812
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

---Processing--------------------------
---------------------------------------
ERROR CODE: 0xC004E016
ERROR DESCRIPTION: The Software Licensing Service reported that the product key is invalid.
---------------------------------------
---Exiting-----------------------------
ECHO is off.
Wed 02/06/2019-13:15:56.59- Activating Office using ospp.vbs 
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.812
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

---Processing--------------------------
---------------------------------------
<No installed product keys detected>
---------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
---Exiting-----------------------------

Before modifying any App Layering vDisks in PVS, set the "Microsoft Volume Licensing" option to "None".  Get Properties on the vDisk, go to the Microsoft Volume Licensing tab, and change the otion from "Key Management Service (KMS)" to None.  Then version and/or modify the vDisk as you need to.  After you are done, you may set the setting back to KMS.



Note, this workaround may no longer be necessary in App Layering 19.2, when we make an adjustment to how we preserve Office and Windows licensing information.

---

Problem Cause

PVS and App Layering both take specific steps to ensure that Windows and Office licensing information is preserved.  Unfortunately, when editing a vDisk, those separate approaches to Windows and Office licensing interfere with each other, and the Office product licensing information is lost.  After you promote your image (or set it back to Standard Mode), Office will try to repair itself because of the missing product installation information.  To keep PVS and App Layering from conflicting, tell PVS that this is not a KMS-based image before you edit it.  That will disable PVS's KMS activities, allowing App Layering's scripts to function properly.