Install Office 2016 OEM without Live account

Anonymous

I manage IT services for several small businesses and periodically need to purchase new computers with Office. I just purchased a new Dell laptop with the OEM version of Office 2016 Home & Business. It will not let me activate it without adding it to a MS account.

I know this is a perennial question, beginning with Office 2013, that is a major headache for independent technical consultants that support small businesses, as I do. But I have never seen a solid answer as to how to get this installed on the computer without the MS account--just a lot of try this, try that. This is NOT Office 365, just Office H & B 2016!

I will not:

Add it to my MS account, or it will be forever stuck to me--which is inappropriate, since I will not own the computer or software once I am paid for the system by my client.
Make my client set up a MS account just for this.
Pry into my client's information to get his MS account information (if he even has one).

But I must have Office installed, activated, and updated before I give the system to my client. The activation dialog, in fact, gives me the option of using a product key instead of a login, but then proceeds to "Redeem Online"--which I believe will end up with the same result that requires a MS account.

At this point, I now have a bigger issue. I backed up the Program Data folder that contains the cached Office installation files, then uninstalled MS Office, hoping that a reinstall would give me some option to truly install without being forced to figure out a MS account for my client. The uninstallation removed the original setup folders. Good thing I backed it up, but then when I reinstall from any of those, it installs Office 2013, not Office 2016. And while it still validates the key when I click the option to use a key instead of a logon, it (as before) takes me to "Redeem Online".

Hello, Microsoft: this issue alone has just eliminated my entire profit from this project, given the time I have already spent trying to get this done, then uninstalling and attempting to reinstall.

I know there are versions that can be activated without a MS account, but I do not buy in bulk and can never seem to figure out which is which.

How do I get this installed for my client without being required to use a MS account?

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Anonymous

2017-09-11T12:53:47+00:00

Hi FO

You have not stated which version of Office you are having problems with? However, if it is Office Home & Student 2013/2016 or Office 365 Home/Personal, then as part of Microsoft's security system/policy you must associate Office with a Microsoft Account. If the Microsoft Account does not belong to the end user they will not have access to their Office Account from where they can reinstall Office when needed in the future. Also the will not be able to do an online repair.
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Anonymous

2017-09-11T12:51:43+00:00

HI Brian

You link goes nowhere and this problem is not resolved. I still cannot use any information to activate this with only the product key.

My client does not wish to create a MS account just for Office home and student. I just want to activate it using the product as I have been doing for the last 10 years.

Not acceptable.

The link was not mine; it was Sushma Reddy's. I am the OP and have the same problem you have.

Brian
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Anonymous

2017-09-11T12:23:19+00:00

HI Brian

You link goes nowhere and this problem is not resolved. I still cannot use any information to activate this with only the product key.

My client does not wish to create a MS account just for Office home and student. I just want to activate it using the product as I have been doing for the last 10 years.

Not acceptable.
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Anonymous

2017-07-11T20:55:06+00:00

Brian,

Right there with you. We are a managed service provider, representing 400+ end point systems. Most of our customers use volume licensing and have no issues. However, for our small customers who do not warrant volume licensing, the new 2016 line of products and Microsoft's change in activation process is a nightmare. Many of our small customers do not have and DO NOT WANT a Microsoft account for any reason. According to MS Activation Support, Office 2016 "Cannot be activated without an account and an Internet connection". Escalation to an Activation Supervisor just results in them hanging up on you in the middle of a sentence.

WOW.... Microsoft licensing continues to suck and their service and support of their product becomes worse and worse.
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Anonymous

2017-07-11T02:20:13+00:00

I agree that the need to activate Office 2016 and attach to a user email account make no sense and create huge frustration and problem for many administrators.

The implementation with the need tag a device-base license with an user email account as if it is also user-base license is flawed to begin with.

And using a common email account to activate up to 30 licenses have challenges in itself, because when you are given the option to select which license to activate, there is NO way to tell which license has already been activated. I have a solution here:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-fix-microsoft-office-2016-activation-problem-boonhong-wong

However, the best workaround I have found is this:

Create an alias email account for every license, using your device serial number. For example, if my laptop SN is sf-123456b, I will create an alias email account ******@company.com and link it to my ******@company.com. When activating, it won't even ask you to select which license key at all.
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