According to the documentation it is possible to deploy Office 365 ProPlus by MSI installation. I tried to use different versions (MSDN, Volume Licensing and OPK) and activate them with the office 365 Account, but none of the versions I tried seem to work.

Could someone give me a hint to which version I can use?

The reason we want to stick to MSI are the additional configuration possibilities of the installation and most of all being able to continue to use WSUS to test/approve the updates.

Office 365 is a service.  Office Pro Plus (click to run) is the version of Office you would activate with a 365 account.  MSI versions such as those from MSDN or VL site would need a KMS or license key.  The Office 365 service supports the .msi based install of Office 2010 and 2013 as well as the click to run based install.  You need to use the deployment tool to download and install click to run.  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36778

I know about the deployment tool and have already read and used it. My question regards the MSI-Installation. I have tried both:

MSDN-Version:

1. I get an error when I activate Office and I get a message to restart the computer.
2. When I start an Office Application I need to activate it again and another error message
3. Now Office seems to work, but I do not really trust an installation, that starts off with two error-messages

VL-Version:

When I try to activate this Version with an O365 Account I get a message stating, that the Version for which I have a license (Office 365 ProPlus) is not installed - I Installed Office 2013 Professional Plus

I even tried the Preinstallation-Kit (Microsoft Office Single Image v15.2 Service Pack 1 OPK), but that was complete miss.

So my question remains: Where do I get an MSI-Intallation that can be activated with an Office 365 Account?

Also could you direct me to where it is stated, that O365 works with an MSI-Installation? I know I read it somewhere, but I cannot find it anymore.

• Edited by Denis Ol Friday, January 30, 2015 9:04 AM

Office2013ProfessionalPlus is the MSI-based product. It cannot be activated via O365 identity. It requires KMS or MAK or ADBA.

Office365ProPlus is the C2R-based product, and can be activated by O365 identity, federated identity to your O365 tenant or by product key.

A few months ago, MSFT announced the "Shared Computer Activation" feature, and in conjunction with that announcement, that Office365ProPlus can now be used on TS/RDS installations.
Prior to this announcement, Office365ProPlus could not be installed upon TS/RDS, so MSFT were granting the use-right for Office2013ProfessionalPlus in TS/RDS scenarios. (although this required you to have or buy at least one license for it to get the product download and product keys needed).

To the best of my knowledge, it's not at all possible to activate either of the MSI-based Office2013 products (ProfessionalPlus / Standard) via O365 identity, because MSI-based products are for perpetual licenses, where C2R O365 products are only subscription licenses.

[OEM/OPK and Retail C2R products are different again, in that they are activated with a product key or against a Microsoft Account, not via O365]

I've never seen it stated by MSFT that O365 works with an MSI-installation. If you find that, please let us know.

Thank you for the answer - that corresponds to what I have found. I was able to find where MSFT says, that an MSI-Installation is possible, even though it's only one little sentence...

This is the page.

And this is the sentence in the topic "Plan an Office 365 ProPlus deployment":

BTW: My reason for wanting an MSI-Installation is the Update-Mechanism. Updates can be assigned in a more flexible way to computers than through a C&R-Installation where I have to create different installations with different Update-Paths. If there is another alternative here please let me know.

Thank you for the answer - that corresponds to what I have found. I was able to find where MSFT says, that an MSI-Installation is possible, even though it's only one little sentence...

This is the page.

And this is the sentence in the topic "Plan an Office 365 ProPlus deployment":

BTW: My reason for wanting an MSI-Installation is the Update-Mechanism. Updates can be assigned in a more flexible way to computers than through a C&R-Installation where I have to create different installations with different Update-Paths. If there is another alternative here please let me know.

Yep. And, that sentence is a classic MSFT ambiguous half-truth/misdirection :(

The MSI version of Office is available from VLSC, but only if you have also purchased that entitlement (at least one per-device seat license), and, that's also when/where you get the product key to use with it.

They don't mention all that detail, but trust me, that's how it all hangs together.

As for your updating scenario with C2R, yep, that's a pain. Having two (or more) different update-paths is how MSFT suggest you manage differentiated/controlled update releases for C2R. I haven't seen nor heard of an easier/more elegant way of doing it. I think you should be able to manipulate the registry keys where the updating properties are stored for C2R, using GP-Preferences or similar, but I haven't had to tackle it myself so far.

OK, that's what I thought. Thank you for confirming it to me. Actually I wouldn't like to fiddle with the registry in that case since it seems, that Office works in a different way when using C2R (See my note about installing a Retail-Version from MSDN).

What I am still wandering about though is what is meant with VLSC: Do I need to purchase licenses for all my users or do I just need a pack of 5 in order to get the product key, use it during installation and then I can instruct my users to activate it with the O365-Account? Or is no activation/association with an O365-Account needed in that case?

I thought it would be the latter, but was greeted with an error when trying to activate a VLSC-Version with an O365-Account (I did not use a Key to install it).

• Edited by Denis Ol Friday, January 30, 2015 12:36 PM