Microsoft have announced the ability to run Office 365 ProPlus on a RDS Server using a new feature called Shared Computer Activation. For more details of this feature, read the blog here – http://blogs.technet.com/b/uspartner_ts2team/archive/2014/09/03/office-365-shared-computer-activation.aspx
UPDATE (7/1/2015): Some of your most common questions regarding this topic are answered by the Office Garage Series team here – http://youtu.be/IcWjV_ZsrOU
- How do I use shared computer activation and what do I need to download or enable in Office 365?
- I’m a small business or bought Office 365 directly or via a 3rd party. Can I use shared computer activation if I don’t have Volume Licensing versions of Office?
- Can I use Office 365 ProPlus with shared computer activation in my standard image? What if some people don’t have Office 365 ProPlus rights on those PCs?
- Will shared computer activation work with Citrix XenApp, Azure RemoteApp or similar remoting solutions?
- Can I replace normal, user-based subscription activation completely with shared computer Activation? Are there any disadvantages?
Here is a walkthrough on how to implement this.
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Download the Office Deployment Tool for Click-to-Run here – http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36778
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Run and extract the tool to a folder on your RDS.
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Edit and configure the configuration XML file as follows: (please see the comments below regarding copying and pasting this to a Notepad program)
<Configuration>
<Add SourcePath=”\\SERVER\SHARE\” OfficeClientEdition=”32″ >
<Product ID=”O365ProPlusRetail”>
<Language ID=”en-us” />
</Product>
</Add>
<Display Level=”None” AcceptEULA=”True” />
<Property Name=”SharedComputerLicensing” Value=”1″ />
</Configuration>
**NOTE: Edit and configure the \\SERVER\SHARE path
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From an elevated Command Prompt, run Setup to download the installation files.
Setup.exe /download configuration.xml
***NOTE: Add location paths as needed
The Office365 ProPlus installation files will be downloaded to the specified share with the following structure.
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From an elevated Command Prompt, run Setup to install Office Click-to-Run.
Setup.exe /configure configuration.xml
When the installation is complete, the Office 2013 suite will be available for use.
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On starting the application, you will be prompted to Activate Office. Click Next and Sign in.
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Once signed in, you are ready to go. Office will automatically activate and configure the applications.
For more information, head on to the following 2 MS Technet articles.
- Deploy Office 365 ProPlus by using Remote Desktop Services – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn782858(v=office.15).aspx
- Reference for Click-to-Run configuration.xml file – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219426(v=office.15).aspx