Install Office 2016 OEM without Live account

Hey Al. What is going on is when you go to activate MS Office, the key on the card are not the actually the product key, they are an activation key. When you activate MS Office online, there is a window available that will show you the actual product key. Where I work we have to record both the card key (activation key) and product key in addition to the MS Account we activate MS Office too. MS Office Card keys up to Office 2010 contained the actual product keys. For MS Office 2013 only OEM card keys and keys sold with actual install disks contained the product key. Retail copies of the 2013 card keys and all 2016 card keys contain and activation code and not the product code. There is a VBS script in an office folder that can be used to display the last 5-digits of the product key on a local computer which was the only way we where able to sort this whole thing out.  For Office 2010 it's at [Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OSPP.VBS], for 2013x32bit it's at [Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS] and for office 2013x64bit [Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS]... seems like someone could make a lot of money now by making a competing product.

Hear, hear!

Microsoft: where do I send my $250 invoice for the time I have wasted thus far trying to get Office 2016 activated?

Hmmm...nobody listening over there...why am I not surprised?

My experience is that after setting up a dummy account, and activating 1 copy of 2016 PRO and 1 copy of 2016 H&B that is all it will except. On my 2nd copy of 2016 H&B the install never asked for the key? And would not activate!

When I query the install for the key:

cscript “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS” /dstatus

It comes up with wrong last 4 of the Key I have in hand, and since I never entered a key I am assuming it has a limit (per email account) and simply picks the last key associated with that email account. Very professional LOL

Looks like I will have to setup a new email to activate this one, uninstall my current MS Office 2016 H&B, then re-install and reregister with the new email account, needles to say Mico$oft should be held accountable for each and every hour of wasted productivty $$$$.

Rio

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.

Jay and Aleigh, thanks for the interesting perspectives on this problem.

AL, what you are saying has the ring of truth.  It would explain why so many other people are complaining that Office installations that worked suddenly don't work and when they try to reactivate they get the invalid product key message. 

I wonder (pure speculation, based on past development experience) if they "broke" something during the process of making changes to the activation system to handle Office 365 through the MyAccount site, and the (relatively) new ability to register Office 2013/2016 one-time payment licenses so they are visible through MyAccount.

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.