Install Office 2016 OEM without Live account

@RonBarker - This thread is about 2016 - 2013 does not have the issue.  As for making the clients a 2016 DVD, that doesn't work because you still have to register an account to the installation of Office 2016 on that machine.  The key literally doesn't matter after that either... upon installing again, it will require the user to log in to an account registered to the software and it has to be from that particular machine as well.

More recently my company has been receiving machines that already have the hardware registered with Microsoft as having Office 2016 purchased for it and when you log in to your MS account is validates that the machine should have the software and let's it run.  Literally no key ever given... a completely new way of delivering software.  It can also be a pain in the a** though - if you have a different version pre-installed (typically Office 365 is) it will say Office has been purchased for the machine but then will not activate when you try and use it... because although the applications themselves are identical (Word, Excel, etc.) they technically are not the same as what you purchased.  Of course you can download the installer for your purchase from your MS account online that' snow registered to the purchase... but you better make sure you remove the pre-installed version (Office 365, etc.) because the system will still run the wrong version of the apps and fail to properly activate.  (good grief Charlie Brown!)

At any rate there *is* a solution but it is only good for companies... those that contract their services and work with individuals are still out of luck (sorry).  The option is to purchase volume licensing and then burn the ISO for whatever version of 2016 you need and install on each machine from that.  No hassles in setting up a licensing server and you just pay for additional keys as needed and install the good old fashioned way. 

We've also found this is better too because it uses the MS installer for the installation rather than Click-To-Run.  In the past we've found that Click-To-Run installations cause problems with other Office products we purchase later on an as-needed basis, such as Visio, because those individual purchases are always "here's your key and here's a link to an ISO file" and the installer is consequently an msi.  I had to jump through all kinds of hoops recently to get an msi version of Visio to install on the same machine we had already purchased Office which used the Click-To-Run installer!  Here's a hint - the OfficeDeplymentTool can be modified to accomplish the task. ;-)

I totally agree. These desperate companies are fooling already stupid investors to believe their cloud growth is the one to look at and pay multiples for their stock price. At the end of the day, they are just cannibalizing the license revenue and making it look like there is huge growth, but in this kind of money printing driven market, who cares?

MS doesn't even deserve to be at its half price. yet, the algo driven market looks at their financially engineered earnings numbers, including the subscription growth, voila, we have stock doubling in less than 5 years. 

If someone looks at their books, it is obvious that the company has no innovation, in fact they have what i call denovation (depleting innovation). I wish I didn't have to upgrade but the power of monopoly dictates how we use their software. Their tech support is pathetic and anything more than just a simple fix (which I can do myself), you have to pay up. 

Granted, google and Apple could compete harder, but they are behind the curve and god knows why they won't put more resources into building a stable, reliable office competitor, instead of stupid self-driving car. That is also because, when companies get free multiples without having to show anything for, the resources go into all kinds of places where they don't belong. 

MS has the audacity and capability to ignore any of our grievances because, they can. There is no oversight, no accountability. Best thing is to move from spreadsheet driven models to developing Python codes and use it in conjuction with Tableau. '

I can't remember appreciating and feeling value-add on any MS upgrade since Windows xp and the corresponding Office products. 

Worst is for those people, like me, who changed to Mac recently, All Office applications are filled with bugs and problems, including freezes, lack of features and on and on. 

Hope more people feel that way.

I know this is old, but I am replying as it seems like the discussion is not over.

I do following two things.

1. Manually activating by inserting the Product Key into the program file to omit Live ID verification.

>> For PCs I use internally, either for myself or for my organization, I began inserting a Product Key into one of the Office 2016 software files.  This involves inserting a product code into a file consisting Office 2016 (or 2013) and also involves modifying a line in the file to omit verification of MS account registration.

>> I do this as this is the fastest and simplest (that can even be automated) while this is also legal as long as your Product Key is valid.  You paid for a product and it is yours to use.

2. Opening an (activation use) account with email such as "ProductID_****@outlook.com" and with password same as the product key.**

>> For PCs setup for externally, I create a Live account as an online activation media. Every person I setup an Office will receive two sets of activation credentials including

(1-1) Product ID: ####-####

(1-2) Product Key: #####-#####-#####-#####-#####

and

(2-1) Activation email: ProductID_####-####@outlook.com (or hotmail.com)

(2-2) Activation email password: ProductKey_#####-#####-#####-#####-#####

>> MS account becomes inactive after 120 days (or 180 days, which I am not sure of) of non-use.  If the account is not used to activate the product and/or if the account is removed from Office for longer than the set amount of time, the user may have to create the MS account again to activate it online.