Cannot activate Office Apps with High Sierra

Hi RATLSNAKE,

I tried following these steps on the 2016 version of Office. Here is what I found:

• I installed Office Word 2016 15.11 (got it from an update page from MS). When trying to activate it, it gave me a "Network Connectivity error". I couldn't see any flows in the mitmproxy tool after enabling the proxy setting. I think think for older versions of Office 2016 we won't get any luck
• In then found a 32-bit installer for Office 2016, from MS as well. This installed Office 15.25 with all applications (Outlook is installed also but it can't run due to some incompatibility issue). I then tried to follow the same steps re. capturing the authentication URL, getting an activation code URL and then trying to redirect it again. The good news is: it worked, with the exact same steps!

If you'd like to try it as well, this is where I got the installer from (look at the download link under the 32-bit installation reversion section):

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/office-for-mac/office-2016-for-mac-64-bit-upgrade#options-for-reverting-to-32-bit-installations

Hopefully this version of Office will work on your machine - if it does, you should be able to follow the same guide to get it to work.

If you'd like to check the version of Office you're running, click the "About" option.

Hi guys,

I also went through the massive trouble of attempting to install Office in a High Sierra machine just recently. After a lot of back-and-forth, looking for as much info as I could gather from forums like this, I finally got a procedure that allowed me to do it - however, it takes a lot of steps to get there as it basically requires you to man-in-the-middle the whole thing to get an auth code generated and replied back to the Office App. Also, it worked to get all apps authenticated except for MS Teams.

I don't provide any guarantees that this will work for you. If you want to try it, make sure that you know what you're doing, and try it at your own risk: https://gist.github.com/rafaelfonte/56b9fb80daed8c586433e82859ccb876

This procedure involves intercepting the authentication window request url that is called just before the page goes blank with a local proxy tool, going to that URL in your browser, copying the auth code URL and then forcing the authentication window to that URL via a HTTP redirect. Still, a lot more hassle than what should at all be expected, just to overcome limitations from software that is poorly maintained by Microsoft when it comes to supporting users on legacy platforms that were working fine just a few years prior.

Also, I haven't taken any screen captures of URLs or such while doing it. What's documented there comes out of memory alone. I might come back to it later to fill in a few more details in the future.

(EDIT: Just reviewed the doc to make it easier to follow and made a few corrections to make it more clear).

Hello Rafael,

I'm so grateful for your guide (and also additional notes from Jean-LucWa) that I can successfully aunthenticate my Office 365 on my Mac High Sierra again.

Thank you so much!

One further question:

After i worked on activate the Words, other apps - Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook are automatically authenticated as well. Except OneDrive which will show blank page when click on sign in.

Is it still possible to have any workaround to sign in to OneDrive.

Appreciate your advice.

Many thanks!

Cheers

Rafael, I am so grateful for your work around and very kind assistance with the process.

As you very correctly stated, this method requires very quick input from the user, to manually select, alter and submit the intercepted request. It requires a fair bit of repetitive practice to do it in under 30s.

I found that learning and practising the mitmproxy tutorial is a must as well as learning some of the keyboard short cuts.

Going through the process I had saved in a text document the Full URL with the access token.

Beware I found that after a few attempts or a restart, the values changed, to avoid frustration to novice like me, I recommend once you get lost in the process to quit all application, run Microsoft_Office_License_Removal_2.7, to clear the system.

Then start again from scratch following the full method as supplied by Rafael

One more thing, below is a summary detail of typing keys to make it clearer for all for the end sequence.

Make sure - Certificate is trusted
Proxy is enabled
Shortcut i : /oauth20_authorize.srf then Hit ENTER
shortcut f : login.live.com then Hit ENTER
Launch MS App (Excel) to validate enter user and next
Within the intercepted request, modify the following response properties:
a. Response headers (shortcut e 9 , then a to add row):
Type the word: Location then Hit TAB to move cursor under Value column
Then Paste the full URL you copied before (the one that looks like "https://login.live.com/oauth20_authorize.srf? lc=1046#access_token=..." ( easier to save it in a text document with the above command to access it quickly)
After a few seconds one the pasted text is shown
Hit ESC to stop editing it highlight the whole text in darker colour
Hit q once,
b. Response code (shortcut e c ): 302 Hit ENTER
Hit a Hit a Hit a Hit a
If done within 30 Second it activates my Excel Application, as I did do it with Excel when I checked the other MS Aps Word and PowerPoint were also activated.

I am doing it within 30 seconds but for some reason Code 302 does not show up, it always goes to 200 as per screen shot

Something is NOT working in the validation sequence, once I paste the url, I can only hit ESC to validate.When you access a Mac could you please try following sequence below in case I am missing something or hiding the wrong key? Certificate installed & is trustedProxies are enabledShortcut i :   /oauth20_authorize.srf    then Hit ENTERshortcut f :  login.live.com   then Hit ENTERLaunch MS App to validate enter user and  Hit  nextWithin the intercepted request, modify the following response properties:a. Response code (shortcut e c ): 302   Hit ENTERb. Response headers (shortcut e 9  a to add row): Hit ENTEROnce your cursor is below the content length row, you should typeLocation   then Hit TAB to move cursor under Value columnThen Paste the URL you copied before (the one that looks like "https://login.live.com/oauth20_authorize.srf? lc=1046#access_token=..."YES The end result is what is displayed in https://gist.github.com/user- attachments/assets/78f20893-9eb8-4ac6-965f-65ec6066fa26Hit ESC to stop editing it highlight the whole text in darker colourHit  q once,It returns to Flow Details window with the 3 tabs: request -  intercepted - Response DetailHit  a but it goes to 200 instead of 302? All done within 30sec limit

Once it is in that state (in the header edition screen) I think you can back up with q to return to the request details.

Re. the image below, I think the response is missing the 302 response code change (I see a 200 there instead), which is also required for the hack to work. Also, it seems like it returned after 30s, which I think is the timeout period that we should avoid.

In short, I think you have the request header right. You need to change that and the return status code to 302 in under 30s and, once you're back to the flow, allow it through by hitting "a". It should show a 302 response code instead.