Install Office 2016 OEM without Live account

Mr Crusher:

While Dell appears to be the most commonly reported company with this problem, OEM keys activated before buyer can do it. But they the problem is not exclusive to them.

Since the problem is with OEM licenses, yes, MS washes it's hands of the problem. That is the deal. The OEM has a contract with MS that says the OEM is responsible for all support for the license. That is part of the reason the OEM gets the license at a discount.  Most (99%) users are not aware of this. But it also leads to the "it's not my responsibility ... " finger pointing problem when you try to get help with problems like this one.

Here are all of the notes on the OEM activation problem

Stolen Product Keys in Supply Chain - **Activating Office 2016 OEM license**(Dell?) Problem

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-office_install/activating-office-2016-oem-license/bf55e024-1d6c-4522-bf2c-c9e57f153275   4 me too’s, DELL

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-office_install/office-2016-bad-product-key/74d463e8-f052-46aa-9738-713a8764e694 DELL  (not yet resolved in this question)

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_install-mso_win10/product-key-in-use/65728210-0050-47f5-921d-8048606e2fab

• new OEM key already used, Oct 2016

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_365hp-office_account/office-365-doesnt-recognize-my-microsoft-account/09e14bb1-bfcd-452b-8de7-1b7fe19e83c9

• 124 “ME TOO’S!” - account not recognized

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-office_install/login-says-emailphone-number-doesnt-match-software/90c3ce34-c8fc-44c8-91b2-d7bd5ea1ca22 3 “me too’s” in the first few hours! - account not recognized

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_365hp-office_account/product-key-valid-but-redeemed-with-a-different/e73ddb43-df0d-4e8e-83a6-5b738fcbd94c ASUS

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-office_install/office-2016-activation-key-already-in-use/68931ba9-53ef-46d0-ab1a-4fd7457dda2d

• already activated with unknown hotmail

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-office_install/licensing-issue-with-mix-of-office-2013-oem-volume/ed90445a-af5b-4ffa-acaf-9a31038fc8c3 (Dell OEM Pro)

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-office_account/i-made-a-typo-in-the-email-address-i-entered-when/bf989b99-6d74-4065-881a-f10c083dd9e7 made typo in email during activation

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Product Key Valid but redeemed with a different account-ASUS EE book 205TA Product key stolen on supply chain - Atom

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Several people have reported that when they try to activate brand new Office product keys they get a message that it has already been activated by a different email account. MS is providing no relieve for this problem. A few people have been able to convince DELL to provide replacement product keys.

So far this problem has been reported by buyers of licenses from DELL and Best Buy, Lenovo, Asus (OEM H&S)

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Here are 2 interesting perspectives on the issue

<Snip https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-office_install/install-office-2016-oem-without-live-account/139e1c25-86ae-49de-ab1a-3d8f03218fa9?page=8 >

Jay 007 Man replied on Jan 7, 2016

I can support this story. Two weeks ago, I received 3 Office 2016 licenses with 3 new dell business laptops. All 3 keys were already activated and added to another account. After talking with Microsoft, they even gave me the email address that the keys were registered under. Suffice to say, it was some random Gmail account that did not belong to any known user. Dell just shipped me 3 more license without question.

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*****

ALeighS11 replied on Jan 7, 2016

We bought 40 machines. I activated office on each one, no problem. Then I went in to set the laptops up for users, and they are not active again. I went on my live account, and ALL of the product codes are different than the product code cards I have been given. Someone has to be screwing things up in the MS database. I have the cards in MY hand that say what product code I put in... and then on my ms live accounts they are totally different. No way is Dell giving away so many "Used" codes. I think MS is screwing up on keeping track of what really has been used.

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Mar 8 2016, There is a reported story that MS is claiming there is an alternate activation server working somewhere. But that does not seem to be the answer to the problems these people are reporting

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3041857/enterprise-applications/microsoft-goes-after-pirates-who-allegedly-activated-thousands-of-copies-of-windows-office.html#comments

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This is a totally different problem. Sounds like someone selling a few (thousand) computers with “illegally” activate Windows and Office 2010, or Windows Server

https://torrentfreak.com/microsoft-sues-pirating-comcast-subscriber-160229/

• This link has a link to the full legal complaint submitted by MS (MS vs Comcast … PDF)

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Office does not Recognize my email account

Sorry, I don't have a good answer to that question.  Typically we simply do not hear back with a resolution. Just to be clear, this is not a problem limited to OEM licenses. That is a separate issue.

Not a fix, a Work around, but it saves on grief

<snip>

Same situation... Desperate and pissed. Found a 8 dollar solution.

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To use same account and avoid MS Support.. you can pay one month 365 Personal subscription! Then everything works.

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Turn of auto renew. Renew with the bundled product key and you have 13 month to expiration.

</snip>

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_365hp-office_install/activate-office/022db2a1-89da-434e-bc0c-b87d3a5cecc4

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<snip https://community.office365.com/en-us/f/172/t/426841 >

please try the steps below to see if there is any improvement (some of the steps you may have done before, please go through the whole process again):

1. Delete the previous credentials via Control Panel > Credential Manager > Windows Credentials and remove all Office related credentials one by one.
2. Do a full online repair via Control Panel > Programs and Features > Select the Microsoft Office 365 product > click Change > Select Online Repair.

</snip>

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It appears to be a new feature <sarcasm>.  MS takes your money and runs ... <sigh>

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Sorry, all you can do is contact MS Support and waste many hours fighting with them to get what you paid for.

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If you just bought it, you can also contact your credit card company and ask them to reverse the charge because the product is defective.  Hitting MS in the wallet is one way for small customers to get their attention.

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You can also take your problem public. Post on twitter. A public expression of your problem is more likely to get their attention.

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Social Media- Twitter - Make your Pain Public, maybe then MS will fix the problem

http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-twitter-based-tech-support-puts-apple-in-the-shade-7000016997/

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Sorry, there is no good answer to that. If you, and all the others with this problem start tweeting it, making it more public, maybe then MS will finally be inspired to find the fix to the problem.

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Microsoft has a number of dedicated teams that do this kind of support explicitly: @WinPhoneSupport, @XboxSupport, @MicrosoftHelps, @WindowsSupport.

Social media teams on @Office, @Surface, and @Microsoft

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I've already  been recommending my clients ditch Office for years - the above reason being a huge factor.  Licensing is a nightmare.  Once they realize there are alternatives (all of which are cheaper, easier to deploy, and typically easier to use) - it's an easy sell.

But a few still need Office to tie into other systems.  In those cases, just at the OP stated, it's a massive cluster of stupidity and time waste.

If we purchased a DEVICE license, why does it need to be tied to a PERSON?  What's next?  Will Windows licenses be tied to a person?

This has finally bitten hard this week for me.

Recently bought a new pc for a client with office 2016 retail pack with Product Key on a card. I didn't want this on my microsoft account so created a new one hastily with a name appropriate for the client, filling as little detail as possible using MY details because the client would never get involved at this level. I just wanted to install it and run

Downloaded the install, used the product key supplied and set to auto activate when online and it was online for several days whilst it ran all the win7 updates. I really don't recall whether I checked or not but I would usually make sure it was activated before it left my bench. 

I delivered the pc, attached to clients network, added to the domain and left it on the network idle and unused by anyone. Six weeks later I login and Office says it needs activation - enter the product key.

I did and it said the product key was already used - yes it was, I used it to install in the first place. NO-ONE has had access to that card with the key on it except me. There are no options to activate in any other way, its insisting I logon to the microsoft account for that product key. I have no idea what I made the password (stupid I know but we get interruptions and distractions don't we?) so I instigate a reset. It fails because I cannot supply enough detail (remember I didn't add any that I wasn't forced to). After 3 hours with Microsoft support (not) It appears I will never get access to that Microsoft account, resets just produce another form which produces another form until it refused to do any more resets.

I have paid for the product, I have a product key, I have a microsoft account which I created but a password reset appears to be impossible so the software is unusable. The product is broken!!

Office install used to take me about 3 minutes. This one is 6 hours and counting

It's finally getting to me to.  I will echo the disdain of this process as the sole IT guy of a small division of a larger company.  We buy our licenses either OEM or retail and I have been using my MS account tied to my company email to activate them.  Well, I hit the limit.  I can't have the employees of this company sign up for a MS account using their work email address because our new parent company uses O365 and the Activation login screen tells me I can't use a business account to sign in.  So what am I to do?  Ask employees of my company using company laptops and company purchased software to activate it using their personal email address?  Seriously, what are my options here?

RobTechCT:

OP here. I finally began using one of the respondents' suggestions. While it does nothing to allay the feeling that this is all nonsense, at least I had a way past the limits. I created a separate Live account using a dummy e-mail address based on [ComputerSerialNumber]@[CompanyDomain].com for each computer as I register Office. I record that address and the product key in a database. For activation of the Live account only, I add that address as a secondary address to my domain admin account on the customer's Exchange server, then remove that alias after I have activated the Live account so I can properly activate the copy of Office.

I know...it is all just so much nonsense, but it is about the best I can do without paying double the price for volume licensing or going to Office 365--either of which my customers just do not want to do.