Office 2013 - Need to Activate WITHOUT creating MS Account!

Anonymous
2013-04-04T10:07:22+00:00

We are a small business providing IT products and support for a number of small to medium businesses in our local area. Providing new PCs with MS Office has long been a big part of what we do. With Office 2013 OEM, it seems that activation requires creating a unique MS account for each installation with no obvious way around it. 

This is utterly stupid. Office is supposed to activate on HARDWARE - not an individual. Companies that have many computers and a high turnover of staff use the same computer for many different people. Linking Office to an individual's email account is a very bad idea - especially in a business environment where using personal email is not acceptable.

Creating a company-wide MS account to activate all the software seemed like a usable workaround; until MS informed us that each activation had to be with a unique account.

Add on to this the confusion that many people face when asked to create an MS account of their own and activate their software (things that are completely unfamiliar to many of our customers) and MS seem to have created a support nightmare for us front-line support engineers.

And what about re-installing Office in the future? If an MS account is created but only used for the Office Activation, surely it will expire after so long?

And what about customers that have no internet access? They do exist! How are they supposed to use the software?

MS have tried to cut out their long-time sales partners by introducing and pushing subscription-based Office 365, which eliminates the profit we made from selling physical products with machines - and the latest Office OEM versions that we CAN sell have shot up in price to almost unsalable levels. Volume licensing is also not a solution for many businesses that simply do not have the cash flow to purchase large numbers of licenses at once. Customers also do not want to be tied in to subscription services for software that they are used to owning outright with no recurring costs.

We desperately need an easy solution to this - any suggestions appreciated. Or should I just start recommending OpenOffice to our customers now?

Thanks,

Alex

EDIT 12/04/13:

It is even worse than I thought originally. I have just been contacted by a customer complaining that they activated their new Office 2013 using the Administrator account before rolling the machine out to their user, only to find that Office then prompted the user to activate AGAIN when they logged on. it then refused to activate again, saying that it had already been activated!

This is completely unacceptable. Some customers have a large turnover of staff using the same machine; most require at least a couple of different users. What are MS playing at?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-04T21:48:19+00:00

    We are a small business providing IT products and support for a number of small to medium businesses in our local area. Providing new PCs with MS Office has long been a big part of what we do. With Office 2013 OEM, it seems that activation requires creating a unique MS account for each installation with no obvious way around it. 

    This is utterly stupid. Office is supposed to activate on HARDWARE - not an individual. Companies that have many computers and a high turnover of staff use the same computer for many different people. Linking Office to an individual's email account is a very bad idea - especially in a business environment where using personal email is not acceptable.

    Creating a company-wide MS account to activate all the software seemed like a usable workaround; until MS informed us that each activation had to be with a unique account.

    Add on to this the confusion that many people face when asked to create an MS account of their own and activate their software (things that are completely unfamiliar to many of our customers) and MS seem to have created a support nightmare for us front-line support engineers.

    And what about re-installing Office in the future? If an MS account is created but only used for the Office Activation, surely it will expire after so long?

    And what about customers that have no internet access? They do exist! How are they supposed to use the software?

    MS have tried to cut out their long-time sales partners by introducing and pushing subscription-based Office 365, which eliminates the profit we made from selling physical products with machines - and the latest Office OEM versions that we CAN sell have shot up in price to almost unsalable levels. Volume licensing is also not a solution for many businesses that simply do not have the cash flow to purchase large numbers of licenses at once. Customers also do not want to be tied in to subscription services for software that they are used to owning outright with no recurring costs.

    We desperately need an easy solution to this - any suggestions appreciated. Or should I just start recommending OpenOffice to our customers now?

    Thanks,

    Alex

    We are in the exact same situation Alex and are looking for a solution as well. I spent (wasted) about 40 minutes tracking down user info to create a Microsoft account today, in order to active a PKC on one of our OEM systems installed with the 2013 OPK.

    Unfortunately I don't think this issue is getting enough attention - there are scattered posts about it in various online communities including this one, SpiceWorks, Technibble, and others with no real solution.

    What is the proper solution for your smaller OEM partners Microsoft?

    -RD

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-07-10T16:38:53+00:00

    Really?  You have got to be kidding?  So a  client that has a perfectly good email system should scrap it ot use word and excel? 

    Come on!  The MS answer is Open License which Standard is the only low end offered and it is 30% more than Home and Business!

    It is an effort to move EVERYTHING TO THE CLOUD!  Well I guess I should look at Corel and get their Office program!

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-05-09T22:05:55+00:00

    Not a good idea to push people to open office.  Will be a headache to manage for sure. 

    I already went through that with 200+ users across 5 states and 13 offices.  An absolute nightmare.

    But then again it was easier than dealing with an Office 2013 install!!

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-04-15T18:52:43+00:00

    Same problem - MS Office 2013 installation for small businesses NOT a manageable task.  I have spent more that 8 hours trying to get a copy of Office 2013 and Access 2013 installed an operational on a customer PC and I am still not finished.  I cannot correct mistakes I made associating the software with an inappropriate MS account and support calls are basically telling me that is impossible.  A better approach needs to be rolled out quickly or it will not be feasible for me to sell this product.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-05-22T09:33:12+00:00

    I work for a company who support SMEs and spent the best part of two hours trying to re-activate 2013 on a new PC yesterday. Thanks Microsoft!

    Not enough that the installation dies with the PC? Seems like a cynical marketing exercise to get everyone to sign up to MS.

    Also Outlook 2013 does not work with Exchange 2003 at a time when small companies can ill afford to upgrade. Once again, thanks.

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