Scenario: Office Shared Computer Activation

The Office Shared Computer Activation scenario automates checks and recovery activities to enable or disable shared computer activation on a device. Shared computer activation for Office is supported for specific subscription plans. For more information, see Overview of shared computer activation for Microsoft 365 Apps.

In the full version of the Assistant, the equivalent entry point for this scenario is Office & Office Apps \ I want to setup Office with shared computer activation on a computer or server in my organization.

Note: This scenario requires that you use an elevated Command Prompt window. To do this, select Start, enter cmd, right-click Command Prompt in the results, and then select Run as administrator.

Download the Enterprise version of the Assistant

Select the following button:

For complete details about how to run the Enterprise version of the Assistant, see Enterprise version of Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant.

Available switches for the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario

The following switches are available for this scenario. They aren't case-sensitive. Unless noted as optional, the switches are required to run the scenario. You can use more than one optional switch.

Switch <parameter> Details Required/Optional
-S <scenarioname> Specify this switch and OfficeSharedComputerScenario as the value of the scenarioname parameter to run this scenario. Required
-AcceptEula Specify this switch to accept the End User License Agreement (EULA) and run this scenario. Required
-CloseOffice Specify this switch to close all Office apps that are running. Required
-RemoveSCA Specify this switch to remove Shared Computer Activation (SCA) and to configure non-SCA activation for Office. Optional

Sample commands

Here are some sample combinations of switches to run the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario.

  • Sample 1

    To enable SCA on a computer, run the following command in an elevated Command Prompt window:

    SaRAcmd.exe -S OfficeSharedComputerScenario -AcceptEula -CloseOffice
    
  • Sample 2

    To remove SCA if it's enabled, and configure non-SCA activation for Office, run the following command in an elevated Command Prompt window:

    SaRAcmd.exe -S OfficeSharedComputerScenario -AcceptEula -CloseOffice -RemoveSCA
    

Detected conditions and results

When you run the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario by using the Enterprise version of the Assistant, you don't receive any prompts. This is a different experience from the full version of the Assistant. The following table describes the actions that the Enterprise version of the Assistant takes for each condition that's encountered in this scenario, and the corresponding output that is displayed.

Condition Action taken by the Enterprise version Output shown in the Command Prompt window
Scan completed successfully Exit the scenario 63: Scenario completed successfully. Please exit and restart Windows and sign back in as an end-user that needs to use Office.
The user didn't include the -CloseOffice switch Exit the scenario 01: This scenario requires the -CloseOffice switch. Note, if Office is running, the -CloseOffice switch closes Office applications. For additional information, please visit https://aka.ms/SaRA_CommandLineVersion.
Error closing Office application Exit the scenario 62: We ran into a problem. Please run the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario in the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeSCA-UI.
Failure to remove SCA Exit the scenario 62: We ran into a problem. Please run the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario in the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeSCA-UI.
Office isn't installed Exit the scenario 60: This scenario requires an existing Office installation. Please run the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario in the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeSCA-UI.
Error checking whether Office is installed Exit the scenario 62: We ran into a problem. Please run the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario in the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeSCA-UI.
Error determining whether Office SKU is ProPlus or BusinessRetail Exit the scenario 62: We ran into a problem. Please run the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario in the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeSCA-UI.
The installed Office SKU isn't ProPlus or BusinessRetail Exit the scenario 61: This scenario requires an existing Office installation that supports Shared Computer Activation. Please run the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario in the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeSCA-CmdLine.|
Error running recovery action Exit the scenario 62: We ran into a problem. Please run the Office Shared Computer Activation scenario in the full UI version of SaRA. You can download SaRA from https://aka.ms/SaRA-OfficeSCA-UI.