Microsoft offers students at eligible educational institutions access to full Office

[jc1875]

I haven't poured over the licensing terms, but I'd imagine the small print says that the copy of Office is for that user. Clearly, that's hard to enforce if said student installs the software on the home PC and other family members make use of it but just because you can't enforce it doesn't mean it's right for you to break the rules

The TechNet site goes into pretty good detail about how Office 365 ProPlus works, activates, can be deployed, etc. so I would check it out: Overview of Office 365 ProPlus

 

I appreciate that, and its the kind of thing that might even put parents off installing it and taking advantage of, erm, advantage.

[Mr.Ben]

Just a heads up - make sure the reseller who is adding your product to your agreement is doing so for your total number of students - mine assumed that the Staff Count was the number to use, so I only have 130 licenses until it's corrected :-)

 

Calling the VLSC team resulted in them telling me to go back to the reseller!

Edited December 11, 2013 by Mr.Ben

[lmgtfy]

Better than DirSync + Password Sync?

 

DirSync is great and in total including Server setup this was a few hours work but the real fun comes after when you have to then allocate your users a particular license in Office 365 admin portal.

 

This is the stage I'm at now. So I have imported 2300 students using DirSync and all is working fine including the password sync which I thought was going to be the hard bit but now Microsoft thinks its acceptable for me to select 20 users at a time and then click edit and then select the right license then repeat. Really 20 users where is the select all or select all by filter? That's just the students then I have a couple hundred staff to do.

 

I have heard it might be possible to do this via powershell but have not found one example I can amend for education licences or get working. Surely someone has a answer for this and please don't say ADFS

 

Cheers

[Arthur]

I have heard it might be possible to do this via powershell but have not found one example I can amend for education licences or get working.

Have you seen this thread or the TechNet Wiki article that @jamesbmarshall linked to?

 

How to use PowerShell to Automatically Assign Licenses to your Office365 Users « TechNet Wiki

[kevin_lane]

I just used the csv I had an issue with the sync tool and complained that sql express couldn't be installed but couldn't find no pre reqs only .net 4

[lmgtfy]

Have you seen this thread or the TechNet Wiki article that @jamesbmarshall linked to?

 

How to use PowerShell to Automatically Assign Licenses to your Office365 Users « TechNet Wiki

 

Yea this is what I have been working from but just can't get the syntax working, just thought some school must have done this already and wouldn't mind sharing, I can't believe anyone did it manually?

[AngryTechnician]

I just used the csv I had an issue with the sync tool and complained that sql express couldn't be installed but couldn't find no pre reqs only .net 4

 

.NET 3.5 is required too.

[Boredguy]

We are using the following PS to set our student licences... we will need to tweak it once the Student Advantage gets added

#Set the Student permissions

 

#Set the license options for Office 365, which in this case is just Exchange access

$LicOptions = New-MsolLicenseOptions -AccountSkuId Tenancyname:STANDARDWOFFPACK_STUDENT -DisabledPlans MCOSTANDARD, SHAREPOINTWAC_EDU, SHAREPOINTSTANDARD_EDU

#Search for users that have no licences as they have just been syncronised and store into array where username begins STU

$users = Get-MsolUser -UnlicensedUsersOnly -Synchronized -MaxResults 50 | Where-Object {$_.UserPrincipalName -like "STU??*" }

#If we have no users then we can exit out of the script

if (!($users)) {exit;}

 

#For each user we found, we will loop thought them and apply settings

Write-Host "Set Licence"

foreach ($user in $users)

{

#Displays on screen the user we are updaing purely for debugging purpose

Write-Host $user.UserPrincipalName

#Set the Location to GB for the user which resolves the "error" that is detected

Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName $user.UserPrincipalName -UsageLocation GB

#Set the Office 365 license for the user based on the value selected above. This is purely for students

Set-MsolUserLicense -UserPrincipalName $user.UserPrincipalName -AddLicenses "Tenancyname:STANDARDWOFFPACK_STUDENT" -LicenseOptions $LicOptions

}

[lmgtfy]

Thanks @Boredguy I'll let you know how I get on but at least I know I'm starting from a good foundation now. Cheers

[Max_Power]

Received our details from MS this morning. How do you distribute the software now? We dont use office 365 and qualified for it through our EES agreement.

[jamesbmarshall]

How do you distribute the software now?

 

Grab a coffee and read, my friend: Browse by Tags - UK Education Cloud Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

 

[Max_Power]

Grab a coffee and read, my friend: Browse by Tags - UK Education Cloud Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

 

 

Cheers

[lmgtfy]

Thanks to a big helping hand from @Boredguy I now have a powershell script that will login automatically, search for users with the word Student in the "Department" AD field and then allocate them the A2 Student licence and the Office Professional Plus for Students license.

 

See below for code

 

#Script to run to encrypt password only run once

 

read-host -prompt "Enter password to be encrypted in mypassword.txt " -assecurestring | convertfrom-securestring | out-file C:\365securestring.txt

 

Main script:

 

#change the tenant

 

#Change the encrypted password found in C:\365securestring.txt to a password I can use

$pass = cat C:\365securestring.txt | convertto-securestring

 

#Use the encrypted password found in C:\365securestring.txt and combine it with the username

$mycred = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist "[email protected]",$pass

 

Connect-MsolService -Credential $mycred

 

#Setting Options for A2 Plan This part is optional we just don't want students to have Exchange yet as we have onsite exchange

$options = New-MsolLicenseOptions -AccountSkuId tenant:STANDARDWOFFPACK_STUDENT -DisabledPlans MCOSTANDARD,EXCHANGE_S_STANDARD

 

#Searches for 500 users in the Student group with nolicence and lists them under var $Users

$users = Get-MsolUser -UnlicensedUsersOnly -Synchronized -MaxResults 500 | Where-Object {$_.Department -like "Student" }

 

#Exits if no users are in search above

if (!($users)) {exit;}

 

#Start of loop for each user in list and sets the name field for the rest of the script

Write-Host "Set Licence"

foreach ($user in $users)

{

Write-Host $user.UserPrincipalName

 

#Sets the Location to GB

Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName $user.UserPrincipalName -UsageLocation GB

 

#Adds the Student A2 Plan to the user with options

Set-MsolUserLicense -UserPrincipalName $user.UserPrincipalName -AddLicenses "tenant:STANDARDWOFFPACK_STUDENT" -LicenseOptions $options

 

#Adds the O365 student licence to user

Set-MsolUserLicense -UserPrincipalName $user.UserPrincipalName -AddLicenses "tenant:OFFICESUBSCRIPTION_STUDENT"

 

#Exits loop

}

[timbo343]

@jamesbmarshall Just want to say thanks for the blogs you have done for office365. Without looking through them, wouldnt been able to activate the license for Student Advantage. The account managers arent really helpful, they just know how to press the right buttons. Time after time i have asked my account manager to help me with the step by step process of what happens next. I got my license confirmation through the other day and if it wasnt for the redemption interface link - https://portal.microsoftonline.com/Commerce/ProductKeyStart.aspx i would have been stuck.

 

Also had to remember to activate the individual users - only got a test at the moment working so i can recreate a basic how to guide for our lot, they dont read things the best of times.

 

A few more questions on this that you might be able to answer... what happens if i run out of licenses? At the moment, i have about 100 more than i need (just incase) but say we get a big year group intake in 2014 and our post16 intake is also bigger, how i go about getting more licenses?

 

Also, what happens if a student leaves but then decides to come back after they have installed the office software on their machine(s)? Would they need to re-install the office package again? and when a student is removed from office365 how long have they got until the software stops working on their machine(s)?

[kevin_lane]

I think its quite easy put all 1300 pupils in via csv and then once they leave you just revoce them along as you make a tutorial for the pupils then ur good to go

[AngryTechnician]

A few more questions on this that you might be able to answer... what happens if i run out of licenses? At the moment, i have about 100 more than i need (just incase) but say we get a big year group intake in 2014 and our post16 intake is also bigger, how i go about getting more licenses?

I think I can answer that one: you just put an order through in the same way you did the first time. Since it's ordered as part of EES, I believe we'll need to specify the same link item and required student numbers each time we renew too.

[timbo343]

I think I can answer that one: you just put an order through in the same way you did the first time. Since it's ordered as part of EES, I believe we'll need to specify the same link item and required student numbers each time we renew too.

 

Fair enough. I guess i should have thought of that before posting..

 

I am in the middle of testing Office365 Pro for students just to get a further understanding of it. I have deactivated the install from the Office365 Software >> Office screen. I was wondering how long it takes - if ever for office365 and the installed version of office not to work.

 

Does MS have any acceptable use forms for students to sign to agree they will obey the rules?

[jamesbmarshall]

@jamesbmarshall Just want to say thanks for the blogs you have done for office365.

 

I'm glad someone reads it!

 

what happens if i run out of licenses? At the moment, i have about 100 more than i need (just incase) but say we get a big year group intake in 2014 and our post16 intake is also bigger, how i go about getting more licenses?

 

As @AngryTechnician says, you phone up your re-seller and order more!

 

You should always be as accurate as possible with your licence count. Don't go ordering lots more than you need. I know there's nothing I can do specifically to stop you other than say that it makes life a lot easier for me, and that it's best practice, but please always try and keep your licence count as "true" to your actual user numbers as possible.

 

Also, what happens if a student leaves but then decides to come back after they have installed the office software on their machine(s)?

 

If they return and are given a user account with an active licence assigned to it then they can carry on using the same bits, in theory. The software invites users to "reactivate" once it detects no active licence.

 

Would they need to re-install the office package again?

 

In theory, no.

 

when a student is removed from office365 how long have they got until the software stops working on their machine(s)?

 

Depends when the software last acquired an active token. Up to 30 days, then into reduced functionality mode. Check the service description!

 

I am in the middle of testing Office365 Pro for students just to get a further understanding of it. I have deactivated the install from the Office365 Software >> Office screen. I was wondering how long it takes - if ever for office365 and the installed version of office not to work.

 

As above. The client will attempt to extend its life every day (or time.. I think) that it's run. If it last connected to the Internet, say, 15 days ago and then on day 16 it connects and finds no licence then you have 15 days until it goes into RFM. That's my understanding of it at least.

 

Does MS have any acceptable use forms for students to sign to agree they will obey the rules?

 

Whose rules do you want them to obey?

 

Microsoft has the EULA which users accept whenever they run any Microsoft software. If you've got your own AUP then you'll need to find your own way to ensure your users sign/adhere to it.

[Mr.Ben]

You should always be as accurate as possible with your licence count. Don't go ordering lots more than you need. I know there's nothing I can do specifically to stop you other than say that it makes life a lot easier for me, and that it's best practice, but please always try and keep your licence count as "true" to your actual user numbers as possible.

@jamesbmarshall

 

Sometimes this is difficult, especially during the summer holidays - the approach I take to O365 and now Student Advantage licences is to have 200 more than I need, then I can create my new Year 7's without having to deactivate my Year 13/11 Leavers - these are generally given 30 days from being off roll (the end of September) before I disable them, as could still be sorting university places and accommodation.

 

This is an additional 15% or so than I actually need, but it makes life so much easier!

 

I assume that It's ok to do this!

 

P.S thanks for the blogs - as mentioned before, without them I wouldn't have had the information needed to do this!

Edited December 21, 2013 by Mr.Ben

[jamesbmarshall]

I assume that It's ok to do this!

 

Clearly, if you're going to need licences for users as they come into school, but before old users have left, it makes sense to have the corresponding number of licences available to make that easier.

[tj2419]

Hi

 

I have my licenses but has anyone got a list of powershell commands they used to assign the license to the student users?

 

I can't seem to get it to work :S been trying lots of different ways that i have seen in the O365 support forums. I have the accounts created and they have their student plan assigned but want to assign the student office license.

 

Cheers

[lmgtfy]

Hi

 

I have my licenses but has anyone got a list of powershell commands they used to assign the license to the student users?

 

I can't seem to get it to work :S been trying lots of different ways that i have seen in the O365 support forums. I have the accounts created and they have their student plan assigned but want to assign the student office license.

 

Cheers

 

Post 88 on this thread :-)

[clareq]

I have provisioned all my students, and sent out the e-mail telling them they can access Office, but is there any way I can see what the take up is? It's a chunk of work to manage annually if only one or two students take it up. Edited January 14, 2014 by clareq

[lmgtfy]

I have provisioned all my students, and sent out the e-mail telling them they can access Office, but is there any way I can see what the take up is? It's a chunk of work to manage annually if only one or two students take it up.

 

The way I check (I don't know how accurate this is mind you though) is to login to Office 365 admin go to Admin, SharePoint click on user profiles and then it says number of user profiles which I believe is the number of users that have logged on. So far out of 2800 users we have 50 so I don't look often as it took me about a week to set it up 100% but o well at least we provide the service.

[timbo343]

I have provisioned all my students, and sent out the e-mail telling them they can access Office, but is there any way I can see what the take up is? It's a chunk of work to manage annually if only one or two students take it up.

 

The way i check to see if users last checked their emails are:

 

1. Office365 admin >> Reports >> Active and inactive mailboxes

 

2. Office365 admin >> Reports >> Types of mailbox connections

 

3. I have a script which i created which logs into office365 via powershell and pulls off the time and date when all mailboxes were last accessed.

 

We are about to roll out office365 for students (well a letter is about to go home) so i have said on the letter, if the child is interested they are to come to IT Support and they will be given a help sheet and also their license of O365 will be enabled.