Office 2021 Volume License Issues

[Nikki]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice please?

I have a lab of 20 Macs joined to a Windows domain. I've pushed out Office LTSC Standard 2021 and the volume license serializer via Jamf which is working well. When a student logs into a Mac using their domain credentials and open Word, I can see that it’s activated with the volume license.

However, I encounter issues when the Office applications prompt students to sign in. If they enter their student Office365 credentials then Office LTSC converts to a Microsoft 365 Subscription license. I’m then unable to revert the license back to our volume license. Logging out of Office LTSC results in Office LTSC showing as ‘Not activated”. 

I'm just wondering if anyone else has come across this before? Is there anyway I can force it to use the volume license? Any help of advice would be great, thanks! N

[obi-k]

If you run the license removal tool, and then run your volume license serializer, does it work?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-to-remove-office-license-files-on-a-mac-b032c0f6-a431...

[Nikki]

Hi thanks for your input. That does seem to kick start it back to the volume license for that user. Do you know if there is anyway to stop Office LTSC converting to a subscription license if a user logs in?

Thanks, Nikki

[obi-k · Accepted solution]

Looks like it might be possible:

defaults write com.microsft.Word SignInOptions -integer 3

https://community.jamf.com/t5/jamf-pro/disable-ms-office-2021-login-options/m-p/316826

[wakco]

First, yes, your expectation of what is supposed to happen is correct.

Essentially Office is supposed to continue using the LTSC license while the subscription license is not available (allowing for something similar to a Shared Device license on Windows), however as the 2021 license is now getting quite dated, combined with Microsoft shift to 365 and subscription licensing, the 2021 license is starting to cause issues like this.
For now my recommendation to fix this when it breaks like this is to follow @obi-k's first suggestion, and finding some way to detect and automatically remove and re-install the license. @obi-k's other suggestion while it will work, would block access to 365 features you may prefer they have access to. As it is, we have stopped using the LTSC license our assigned Macs, limiting it to lab & shared Macs, and for next year we are considering dropping the LTSC license (assuming the 2021 license remains the last available volume license) altogether.

[Nikki]

Hi @obi-k @wakco , thank you both for your help on this. 

I ended up following @obi-k  suggestion for Word, Excel & PowerPoint.

defaults write com.microsft.Word SignInOptions -integer 3