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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:
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?
Processes in Microsoft 365 for setting up Office apps, redeeming product keys, and activating licenses.
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This whole thread...
Dear Microsoft, how the heck did you screw up THIS bad...
I just ran into this with a new HP laptop...
I always thought that the OEM license was tattooed to the hardware not the user; seems that what M$ is doing here is blurring the lines making all our jobs harder.
Fortunately for me, my customer has an open license of Office 2010 - so I will be installing this on these machines.
As for home users and the one-off one and two installs, if my customer doesn't need the 4.5 tons of M$ Office stuff (they just need Word, Excel and perhaps Power Point) I will now suggest King Office more often. $80 and they are good to go - although no Outlook ($100 for purchasing that and I'm done).
Definitely screwed up.
Paul
Never used King Office but I usually use Libre Office, the successor to Open Office. It's FOSS (Free Open Source Software) and it's compatible with M$ Office. It's so compatible that they're nearly identical from a user experience point of view.
MS has continued the messing around with license terms that started in Office 2010 (with the intro of the Product Key Card), generally making Office more expensive.
As well as voting with your wallet, spending money elsewhere, it would help a little if you copied your previous reply to the "Suggestion Box" site. Maybe if MS can see that this "improvement" is hitting them in the bottom line they'll back away from it, like they did with the initial 2013 license change permanently tying all licenses, including Retail, to the hardware.
MS Suggestion box sites at "uservoice.com" Wiki
If you have an (other) feature suggestions to make for various MS products, here is a longer collection of MS uservoice.com sites: