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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515 answers

Anonymous

2016-05-19T07:28:51+00:00

This idiotic problem happen even for the more expensive Retail License!

The license is suppose to tag with the computer under per-device licensing model. So why does it insist to tag with the end user as if it is per-user licensing model?

For company purchased licenses, we can't possibly tag it to individual users. What happen if they left the company?!?! The license cannot be transferred to another live account as far as I know.

The workaround we have done is to create a company live account and registered all our retail licenses to this single account instead. However, when activating the licenses, there is no way to tell all the licenses apart. So we may end up activating the same license multiple times and many other licenses unused.

But this is not the end of our frustration. Because the user is tag to our company live account instead of the Windows login account, any amendment done on Office documents now show our company live account instead of individual user. So now, all our documents are now created and amended by one single live account users. There is no way to track who has created and amended what.

Even if you registered under individual live accounts, if someone else is to login to any shared computer, the office apps will be showing that registered live account on that computer instead of the guest user windows login as well.

Anyone managed to over this mess created by Microsoft?
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Anonymous

2016-05-20T01:17:54+00:00

Because we registered all licenses under one company live account, there is no way to tell one license from the other, some licenses get activated multiple times while others did not get used at all. What happen now is that we can no longer deploy anymore office license!

Microsoft refused to let me activate anymore licenses using this account. Not even sure if this is because I exceed a license activation limit or there is also a limit on how many time a live account can activate the office license as well. And there is no option for me to change the license key as well!

Do I have to create a second live account to deploy the rest of our retail licenses instead?

![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=59baf4c5-440f-4582-a522-0cf01668b42d)
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Anonymous

2016-05-20T01:44:57+00:00

Yes. Note you will be able to only activate a certain number of license per live account and then you will get an error. Generally when you get the error, that specific license key will get corrupt. The only way to make the activation process bullet proof is to create a live account/MS account per license. You may be getting by with multiple office licenses per live account/MS account but eventually you will start having problems. It Microsoft's way of pushing you to the subscription model. I've been dealing with this issue for over 2 years and have watched this problem grow. Microsofts only interest is to minimize supporting these versions of office and getting everyone on Office 365/subscription.
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Anonymous

2016-05-20T06:25:29+00:00
I have found workaround with this idiotic and frustrating issue created by Microsoft. (according to some source, Microsoft intentionally create this to force us to migrate to office 365 subscription)

For those who face problem activating your office license because you have selected the wrong (already used) license from your Live ID (Who can select the correct one when all look the same?), you know that you cannot change your product key once it was selected wrongly, even if you uninstall and reinstall it again.

Fortunately there is an utility that allow you to change your product key. However, you need to first retrieve your REAL product key from your Live ID account. What actually happen is that the product key given in your license box is NOT the REAL product key. After you are FORCED to register your product key into your Live ID, the system will generate a new product key inside your Live ID.

To retrieve the REAL product key, take note of the date you have registered them (please avoid installing more than 1 license per day, else you will have difficulty telling them apart), go to setup.office.com and sign in with your Live ID. Then:
- "Install from Office.com/MyAccount"
- Select "Office 2016" Tab
- Find the license according to the date the product key is added and click "Install from a disc"
- select "I have a disc"
- Click "View your product key"
Run CMD as administrator and enter this command: cscript C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\ospp.vbs /inpkey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx (replace with the REAL product key from your Live ID, not the product key from your license box)

To reveal the last 5 characters of the installed product key (This is the key found inside the Live ID account at setup.office.com, not the one shown in the license pack): cscript C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\ospp.vbs /dstatus

Hope this help.
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