Office 2013 - Need to Activate WITHOUT creating MS Account!

Stop, take a deep breath (... let it out ... <grin> ).

OK, first, you should already know that if they actually did buy an OEM license, it is not transferable to a new machine. That has not changed in 2013. BUT most other assumptions have.

Office 2013 ??? OEM or Retail license is still tied to the computer device. But MS has put a major marketing drive on selling Office 365 ???, they have made getting Office 2013 license very difficult, so it is very likely that your client was sold Office 365 licenses.  Office 365 licensing has a major change, it is licensed to an email address/account NOT the computer.

So we need to know exactly what type of Office licesne you are dealing with.

Take a look at my reply on page 4 of this question for some links on managing  Office 365/2013 in a business setting.

To answer your question, yes there are some MS employees who do read this forum.  Even some of the ones you want to talk to. Unfortunately, the people you want to talk to effectively never reply (OK, once in a blue moon we get a reply from a softie manager of one sort or another).

You may want to ask this question in the “Office 365 for Business” Forum / Community

There is a “hidden”, aka separate, location to find out Office 365 for Business specific information and to ask questions:**Office 365 for business community**http://community.office365.com/en-us/default.aspx

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You could also try joining MS's  "Yammer" account: https://www.yammer.com/itpronetwork/#/threads/company?type=general  There ae a couple of "networks" where you may be able to get an answer, ie "Office 365 IT Pro" or "fasttrack deployment".

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Sorry to say it, but until you get training to bring you up to speed on managing Office 365 in a business setting you may want to hire a consultant to help you help your clients ... <sigh>

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Here are some business license management links that may help:

Business Deployment Guides - Office 365 for Buisiness - Links to various Guide materials to help you Buy, Install and Manage Office 365 in a corporate setting.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/wiki/officeversion_other-office_install/office-365-for-buisiness-links-to-various-guide/7191f557-e753-46b7-9815-2c798caff2da?tm=1403394970184

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Office 365 Business Admin Portal: / Office 365 Admin Center https://portal.microsoftonline.com/****

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<snip>

Things you should know before you start:

• As the first person in your organization who creates the account, you will be the Office 365 administrator.
• After you add your users, they can install the latest version of Office.
• Important: For Office 365 Small Business Premium, the admin should enter all product keys during the setup process. Learn More

</snip>

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steps to create a user account as Admin

http://office365.iyogi.com/help-support/create-user-account-as-admin.html

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Simplifying the Office 365 admin experience

http://blogs.office.com/2014/05/21/simplifying-the-office-365-admin-experience/

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Example Of a 3rd Party Administering Your Office 365

http://www.mamut.com/uk/support/search/faq.asp?lcid=2057&id=02025039

After you have activated Microsoft Office 365and set up your users, you will be able to log on to Microsoft Online Portal, which is your «home» for the Office 365

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Office 365 Administration / Office 365 Administration Center / Office 365 Portal

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj819272.aspx

This page summarized methods of administering Office 365

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Office 365 Adoption Kit

http://aka.ms/o365kit

Spreadsheet with Links to user oriented quick start guides and training courses

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Office 365 Small Business setup center

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office-365-business/office-365-small-business-setup-center-HA104218051.aspx

If you’re just getting started with Office 365 Small Business, here’s how to ramp up quickly and easily. Use our free videos, learning guides, and quick reference cards to help get you started.

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Office 365 Small Business Setup Guide_en-AU.PDF

http://click.email.office.com/?qs=8c110302703630d7a52f03cd54459495cd8ec6d573e41d2e1d29f7b0249b213b17d4af2c2d012d19

12 page PDF that walks you through setting up Office 365 in a business setting, includes a checklist.

Although it is only 12 pages long, it has links to MANY additional web pages of detailed instructions

Note: at the top of Page 4 there is a broken link "Setup your domain", it should be going to this page; http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/office365-suite-help/set-up-and-manage-domains-HA102819938.aspx

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Set up your organization on Office 365 Small Business

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-suite-help/set-up-your-organization-on-office-365-small-business-HA102818317.aspx

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MS PinPoint - MS Marketplace - Search for Experts in your area

http://office365.pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-US/home

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How does a company install and control licenses - Business

Using Click to Run virtualization, the process of getting new users running has substantially changed. Because CTR installations are so fast, you no longer have to pre-install the software for users.

A business IT Admin controls use of corporate Office 365 licenses through the Office 365 Administration Center online.

Overview:

• In the Office 365 Administration Center the designated Office Administrator sets up the new USER ID
• Setup the associated email account(s)
• Setup Office licenses allowed to the userid
• the new User logs in to their new computer
• in Internet Explorer the user goes to the “Office 365 Portal” site to get their allowed Office 365 installation
• using the Click to Run installation process, Office 365 is installed and running on a new computer is a matter of minutes.

The following links will provide you with more detailed information of where to look and what to do. You may require some additional support from an “expert” .

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Free MS training for Office 365 Administration Center / Portal

http://office365support.ca/does-microsoft-have-free-training-for-the-new-office-365/

Excellent resource to get you started administering your business Office 365 licenses.

The first video, Exploring the Office 365 Administration Center  http://labs.officeignite.com/Guides/Exploring%20the%20Office%20365%20Administration%20Center.htm  (9:32), describes how to create new userids, and to assign Office licenses to them. It also very quickly breezes by how to install Office.

The second vidow, Office 365 Overview for IT Administrators http://labs.officeignite.com/Guides/Office%20365%20Overview%20for%20IT%20Administrators.htm  (14:00), quickly walks you through setting up new company and users.

On basic setup page, step 3 “Set up User Access” provides links to instructions on how to set up new users.

In Service Settings, Downloads, you can control what Office apps the user can download.

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Creating Users for the NEW Office 365

http://office365support.ca/creating-cloud-users-for-the-new-office-365/

This page provides more detailed instructions for setting up the new userids and granting them Office 365 licenses

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Configuring Desktops for the NEW Office 365

http://office365support.ca/configuring-desktops-for-the-new-office-365/

The following post will document how to setup a Windows 8 desktop for a cloud user for Office 365. I have already installed Windows 8 and created the local account for my test user. I have logged into the Office 365 portal and had the user change his password. The password for Office 365 and the password for the desktop are the same.

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Office 365 for enterprises: A tour for administrators

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/videos/office-365-for-enterprises-a-tour-for-administrators-HA102654955.aspx

Office 365 for enterprises brings together the online services your business needs. To see how to set up and manage these services, watch these four short videos.

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Where did My MSI go - Deployment Video

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/technet/en-us/office/media/video/video.html?cid=otc&from=mscomoffice&VideoID=670e3969-0509-4d3a-a8a6-ffbe526d3e6f&src=v5:endslate:related^play:related\_0&from=shareembed-syndication

10 minute comparison of MSI and CTR

Touches on corporate provisioning in”User Based License Model Activation”. Users activate/deactivate, but IT still has control to deprovision the license (starting at about minute 8:15).

Then in this video / article :

http://blogs.technet.com/b/office\_resource\_kit/archive/2013/03/20/the-new-office-garage-series-identity-activation-data-access.aspx

They again say the companies can still allow userid activation while maintaining control of the licenses through Active Directory

<snip>

Jeremy: So we showed the installation experience for a domain-joined computer where single sign on is enabled and one that is not domain-joined, but installs via the Office 365 portal. In the direct from portal case when you kick off the installation, you will see a file that looks something like this:

Setup.X86.en-us_O365ProPlusRetail_24*****-45a2-4eeb-b06f-b14****189c8_TX_PR_.exe

In a future episode we’ll talk about all of the configurations needed to suppress completely sign-in, first run experiences and user prompts. IT admins have had to deal with these in past releases of Office, but now there are ways to automatically sign users in to Office 365 installs picking up their domain credentials. I also showed the effects of deleting the user account from the Azure AD store and how it put Yoni’s Office into Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM) - even if Yoni installs Office on his personal devices using his organization’s Office software assets, once Yoni leaves the org the IT department can deprovision his personal installs. That keeps software asset management cleaner and IT is in control.

Yoni: Don’t forget we also had Mark Russinovich on the show and he explained the security model for online services with Azure AD - in your car. It sounds like they are taking the defense in depth approach to harden the service. And you made him slum it in your car, Jeremy.

</snip>

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Overview of ID, Authentication and Authorization in Office 2013

<snip  http://blogs.technet.com/b/office\_resource\_kit/archive/2013/04/16/new-poster-and-content-roadmaps-about-office-identity-authentication-authorization-and-security.aspx >

This page has links to 3 posters. The first poster “Identity and Authentication in the Cloud: Office 2013 and Office 365” describes at a high level how to control new user setup in a corporate / small business environment.

</snip>

<snip  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj683102.aspx  >

This page also has a link to the same poster online (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38193 has PDF and Visio versions of the chart). As well, it goes into more detail with information like the following:

… Because Office is a tool that is used by the same individual in two different roles, the new Office offers two identities with which users can log on to Office 2013:

• A Microsoft account, which most people use for personal business
• An organization ID that is assigned by Microsoft, which most people use when doing work for an organization, such as a business, charity, or school.

The credentials that are used to sign in are recognized as either personal or organizational. That sign-in identity becomes the user’s “home realm” and determines which documents the user has access to on SharePoint, SkyDrive, or Office 365 Services for a specific session. Each unique sign in identity is saved in a most-recently used list so that it is easy to switch between identities without leaving the Office experience.

….

a personal SkyDrive can be mounted to an organization identity so that personal documents can be accessed at work or school without ever switching identities. Also, when a user authenticates by using an identity, this authentication is valid for all Office applications, not just the application he or she signed in to.

….

Two logon types are supported when users sign in to Office 2013, a Microsoft account or an organization ID that is assigned by Microsoft.

Microsoft account (the user’s individual account). This account, formerly known as Windows Live ID, is the credential that users use to authenticate with the Microsoft network and is frequently used for personal or non-business work, such as volunteer work. To create a Microsoft account, a user provides a user name and password, certain demographic information, and “account proofs,” such as an alternative email address or phone number. For more information about the new Microsoft account, see What is a Microsoft account?. http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=268357

An organization ID that is assigned by Microsoft / Office 365 account ID that is assigned by Microsoft. This account is created for business use. An Office 365 account can be one of three types: a pure Office 365 ID, an Active Directory ID, or an Active Directory Federation Services ID. These are described below:

• Office 365 ID. This ID is created when an admin sets up an Office 365 domain and takes the form <user>@<org>.onmicrosoft.com, for example:

sally@contoso.onmicrosoft.com

• Organization ID that is assigned by Microsoft that is validated against a user’s Active Directory ID. An organization ID that is assigned by Microsoft and validated against Active Directory as follows:
  1. First, a person who has an [on-premise domain]&lt;user> account attempts to access organization resources.
  2. ser is authenticated, and is given access to the requested resource.
• An organization ID that is assigned by Microsoft that is validated against a user’s Active Directory Federation Services ID. An organization ID that is assigned by Microsoft and validated against Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) as follows:
  1. First, one person who has an org.onmicrosoft.com attempts to access partner organization resources.
  2. Then, the resource requests authentication from the user.
  3. Next, the user types in their organization user name and password.
  4. Then, that user name and password are validated against the organization AD database.
  5. Finally, that same user name and password are passed to the partner’s federated AD database, the user is authenticated, and is given access to the requested resource.

For on-premises resources, Office 2013 uses the domain\alias user name for authentication. For federated resources, Office 2013 uses the alias@org.onmicrosoft.com user name for authentication.

</snip>

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User Account Management

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj819300.aspx

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The "Office 365 Adoption Kit" does not have the answer to your problem, but it is a good resource:

Office 365 Adoption Kit available

http://aka.ms/o365kit

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Office Garage Blog Index - Business

http://blogs.technet.com/b/office\_resource\_kit/p/garage.aspx

Season 1 summary

• The new Office: What are your options, what’s changed and what’s new?
• The new Office Garage Series: Who Moved My MSI?
• The new Office Garage Series: Client Configuration Management 101
• The new Office Garage Series: Identity, Activation and Data Access with a User-Based Office
• The new Office Garage Series: Did Deployment Just Get Faster?
• The new Office Garage Series: Recap of the Garage Series Live! Show with Paul Thurrott and Early Adopters
• The new Office Garage Series: Click-to-Run Customization and Deployment Deep Dive Part 1 with High-G Aerobatics
• The new Office Garage Series: Click-to-Run Customization and Deployment Deep Dive Part 2 - Workarounds
• The new Office Garage Series: Click-to-Run Customization and Deployment Deep Dive Part 3 - Integration and Automation with Software Distribution Tools
• The new Office Garage Series: Anatomy of Office Software Updates in Click-to-Run
• The new Office Garage Series: Managing Office in Virtualized Environments

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I am having the same problem. A have a large client in a competitive industry who buys the latest OEM version of office when computers are replaced. It's the cheapest way to provide office, spending $250 every 3 to 5 years.  Unfortunately, the computer has a warranty covered failure on the hard drive.  I have the product key that I sold to the client, but I have no idea of who was working at that desk when it was registered or if the email address even exists anymore. 

Microsoft should create a system where OEM installers and partners can register and manage OEM licensing.  We have a good system with volume licensing, why not OEM? Is Microsoft concerned that partners are going to rip them off by resetting and installing the same license over and over?

 I have techs going out, onsite @ $100/hr struggling to deal with this issue. At this point, I am left with two options;

Find a 'hack' and apply that, or abandon Microsoft Office and look for alternatives. 

Does anybody from Microsoft read these posts and deal with this issue? Bill, I loved the ice bucket challenge video, but I think the bucket of ice water would have been better used in your licensing department.

me too, I have to same problem with activation. One Hotmail account only handle 10 keys. It really wasting my time to do the installation and activation.

In addition, In some way, I can activate the office 2013 with phone instead of create MS account and do it online. Sorry, I forget how to do it. unplug the network cable. @@@!!@@@

Another shortcoming when purchasing MS Office in any way other than through a volume license:  The "Click-to-Run" technique MS uses for those purchases installs a version that CANNOT be managed by WSUS for updates.  It has its own, INDIVIDUAL update settings and does not interact with Microsoft's own update services on a server in a small business domain managed environment.  Small Business service providers cannot confirm that MSO 2013 installations are up to date and cannot control that aspect of their environment without checking each computer individually.  This is another example of poor support of a sector Microsoft says is key to their company's strategy! 

The only way to get WSUS management is through purchasing a volume license agreement version and those are typically more expensive than the boxed product.  There isn't even a version analogous to MSO Home & Business available (to the best of my understanding).  You must buy MSO Standard, which is more expensive and includes different components (making it more expensive!).

Microsoft:   Any rationale to this strategy?  Any intention to rectify this problem?  It IS a problem for small business and will drive away customers in the long run...

I feel your pain.

Microsoft is in such a hurry to crush pirates that they are stomping all over their legitimate customers. At this point, I am automatically installing Open Office on all new computers going out the door. We no longer purchase Microsoft Office, which is their loss considering we were purchasing Office for thousands of dollars per year.

Now, if a customer mentions this to us, we tell them two things:

1. Stay away from Office 360 because it's subscription based and after a few years you're paying more for it than you would if you just purchase it up front.
2. We will no longer install Office. If the customer requires Microsoft Office for some reason, they have to purchase it and install it themselves.

We have stopped wasting so much time with Microsoft. If they can't see things from their customer's point of view, then they can just do without us as a customer.

The really great thing is, we have been hearing back from many of our customers thanking us for saving them so much money. They say Open Office is doing a great job for them so far, and they're glad they didn't waste hundreds of dollars on Microsoft Office.

Way to drive customer's away Microsoft. Good job.