Install Office 2016 OEM without Live account

My friends, like you, I have suffered with clients' purchases of Office.  However, I believe our worries are almost at an end.  Dell now is a reseller of the subscription version of Office.  I discovered this when a client called me to set up two new Dell computers (ordered through a Dell sales rep--their first mistake, I know.)  They had bought a one year subscription to Office for each of them.  Price was the same price Microsoft charges--$99 for a year.  However, it appears that Dell has inserted itself into the installation of the Office 365 subscription, although the process at Dell isn't fully invented yet, as my client could not get logged into the Dell interface.

So...show of hands.  Who believes an Office 365 subscription will be simpler with a Dell account inserted between the user and Microsoft?  No one?  I advised my client to call the Dell salesman back and get a credit for that purchase.  If you want a Microsoft subscription--and a number of my clients have opted for it--just go to Microsoft to get it.  Unlike the outright purchase, Dell does not sell the subscription at a discount from Microsoft's direct price.

The day Microsoft warned about with the announcement of Office 2013 is almost here.  No more Office as a one time license charge. The demand for Open Office and Libre Office is about to increase.  I'm thinking of retiring as a Microsoft Partner.  When I do and my software licenses are gone, I'm pretty sure the prospect of $8.25 a month for the rest of my life, is going to lose out to Open Office.  I'll keep my $4 Office 365 mailbox but use other software.

@RonBarker - This thread is about 2016 - 2013 does not have the issue.  As for making the clients a 2016 DVD, that doesn't work because you still have to register an account to the installation of Office 2016 on that machine.  The key literally doesn't matter after that either... upon installing again, it will require the user to log in to an account registered to the software and it has to be from that particular machine as well.

More recently my company has been receiving machines that already have the hardware registered with Microsoft as having Office 2016 purchased for it and when you log in to your MS account is validates that the machine should have the software and let's it run.  Literally no key ever given... a completely new way of delivering software.  It can also be a pain in the a** though - if you have a different version pre-installed (typically Office 365 is) it will say Office has been purchased for the machine but then will not activate when you try and use it... because although the applications themselves are identical (Word, Excel, etc.) they technically are not the same as what you purchased.  Of course you can download the installer for your purchase from your MS account online that' snow registered to the purchase... but you better make sure you remove the pre-installed version (Office 365, etc.) because the system will still run the wrong version of the apps and fail to properly activate.  (good grief Charlie Brown!)

At any rate there *is* a solution but it is only good for companies... those that contract their services and work with individuals are still out of luck (sorry).  The option is to purchase volume licensing and then burn the ISO for whatever version of 2016 you need and install on each machine from that.  No hassles in setting up a licensing server and you just pay for additional keys as needed and install the good old fashioned way. 

We've also found this is better too because it uses the MS installer for the installation rather than Click-To-Run.  In the past we've found that Click-To-Run installations cause problems with other Office products we purchase later on an as-needed basis, such as Visio, because those individual purchases are always "here's your key and here's a link to an ISO file" and the installer is consequently an msi.  I had to jump through all kinds of hoops recently to get an msi version of Visio to install on the same machine we had already purchased Office which used the Click-To-Run installer!  Here's a hint - the OfficeDeplymentTool can be modified to accomplish the task. ;-)