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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.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Yes you are correct. I was wrong :-( still need to do the annoying LiveID thing.
There is an ACTIVATION KEY and a PRODUCT KEY. When activating through the Microsoft.com you use the ACTIVATION KEY, the full PRODUCT KEY will only show up once during the initial activation under a very specific link (maybe one of the people on this thread can remember the exact link), if you remember to record that PRODUCT KEY it will always work. The query someone sited above that shows the last 5 digits of the product key will match the last 5 digits of the this PRODUCT KEY. If you do not record the PRODUCT KEY during the initial activation, you will never be able to get again... I swear on my grandmother this is true. <I bet Microsoft is monitoring this thread and is trying to get us on the no-fly-list>.
There is an ACTIVATION KEY and a PRODUCT KEY. When activating through the Microsoft.com you use the ACTIVATION KEY, the full PRODUCT KEY will only show up once during the initial activation under a very specific link (maybe one of the people on this thread can remember the exact link), if you remember to record that PRODUCT KEY it will always work. The query someone sited above that shows the last 5 digits of the product key will match the last 5 digits of the this PRODUCT KEY. If you do not record the PRODUCT KEY during the initial activation, you will never be able to get again... I swear on my grandmother this is true. <I bet Microsoft is monitoring this thread and is trying to get us on the no-fly-list>.
Not true, you can view the REAL product key from your LiveID account. What is not shown is the product key shown on your package. There is NO way you can tell which package product key generated which REAL product key in your LiveID account. The only way is by your activation date. So record that down and avoid activating more than 1 license per day to avoid any mix up.
To retrieve the REAL product key, take note of the date you have registered them, go to setup.office.com and sign in with your Live ID. Then click on "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"
The product key will match the last 5 character installed on your computer, which you can check using this command:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus
Yes you are correct. I was wrong :-( still need to do the annoying LiveID thing.
And the interesting thing is that I have contacted a few Microsoft employees and guess what is their response?
Initially, they keep insisting that there is no need to activate thru LiveID because only Office 365 need it. But after getting defused, they claim that it actually works better with LiveID, but it is us who failed to appreciate this and understand how it works. And after getting defused again, they claim that we have purchased the wrong license, we should be purchasing Office 365 because OEM and Retail are bad idea for all companies except for companies who have only a single user.
So in conclusion, every company have been purchasing the wrong license for decades until Office 365 came into the market right? lol
Anyway, I think they just intentionally act blur for not able to understand our problems just to avoid admitting Office 2016 has a flawed implementation.
What you are calling an "activation key" was known as a "PIN", Product ID Number. It was 27 characters long (vs 25 for Product Key) found on a "Product Key Card". Here is a page to submit 2010 PINS: https://getkey.office.com/office2010/
But I have not heard of 2016 using PINS.
You are absolutely correct, a PIN is a one time use CODE. The user MUST write it down CAREFULLY (or print sreen or print to PDF). It CANNOT be resubmitted.
And yes, MS has extended that sort of "protection" to Office 2013 and 2016 Product keys. As you noted, MS "improved" the way product keys are stored on the computer. We can now only "extract" the last 5 char of the key. Just enough to uniquely ID the full key that MS expects the USER to have recorded somewhere. Unfortunately too many people do not know this and don't write it down. When they have to re-install at some future time, MS is more than happy to sell them a new key. This is partly alieveated for Office 2016 because the 2016 install process FORCES you to associate the key to an email account. That is fine, except just a couple of hours ago I saw a posting saying the person could not remember what email account they used to activate an Office license.