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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.
and geez whiz, here I am in Idaho trying to do the same thing
think i need to go redneck
Yeah. We definitely have two distinct issues:
But either way, the Live account part just complicates my life. I can live with the occasional (and now, fairly regular) phone activation. I cannot deal effectively with Live-based activations.
I have not a clue who this Mr Crusher is, not Wesley Wheaton - watching it now
Microsoft is not the innocent messenger of the issue that began this thread; Microsoft is, in fact, the perpetrator of the problem. I know, because I posted it.
Please go back and read my initial post that began this thread. I am not, by any means, minimizing the complications brought on by the pre-used product key issue. But take Dell out of the equation, and my issue still exists. Take any and every reseller out of the equation, and my problem still exists. In fact, take everyone in the world but Microsoft, my client, and me out of the equation, and my problem still exists. And the only reason my client and I are in the equation is because I am trying to activate office on my client's new computer in the middle of the night. I never even got as far as any kind of previously-used key issue. I got only as far as all the complications that would be experienced (and as has been attested here by many) by any small business information systems support professional attempting to activate Office 2016: it requires information that is either none of my business or is unavailable, but most certainly is irrelevant, and it goes downhill from there.
The fact that nobody from Microsoft has had one useful thing to say yet in this thread is instructive. We all know that Microsoft HQ is in Redmond, WA (my home state, incidentally), and perhaps it really was no coincidence that this all came about just as Washington State legalized marijuana.
I can just hear the big celebration that night: "Hey, dudes," says Billy, "how about we require everybody get a Live account to register Office? That way, we can sell an extra copy of Office every time someone wants to reinstall it and has forgotten their Live account logon information."
"Yeah," comes the response, " and just think--we can get ten billion more Live accounts! Maybe we can get more accounts than Facebook and Twitter combined. Nobody will ever know that they were all set up just to activate Office and won't ever get used again for anything else."
"Great! And while we are at it, maybe we can have a security breach or release the license pool to some hacker in Upper Slobovia, or maybe just re-use our Windows 98 modal 7 license validation or something."
"Cool, man," says Billy, "That a wrap. Let's do it before the smoke clears and we go home--oh, wait, we are home. Anyway, I know a gullible IT guy that is about to make a purchase...anyone want to volunteer to help ignore the community when they figure it out tomorrow?"