Logging onto Windows 10 with a School Office 365 account

[steven_layton_sl]

As the title suggests, I'd like to login to my Windows 10 Pro device (Surface Pro 3) with my schools Office 365 account, which I understand is possible. I have just reset the device to factory, and gone through the setup routine. When the device ask me is this device asked my who owned it, I choose company/organistation. I'm then presented with a logon screen asking for my Office 365 email address and password, but upon entering it, I get the following message "We are unable to connect at the moment. Please check your network and try again later."

 

Do I need to set anything up on the Admin Console side of Office 365? Should it just work?

 

Our Office 365 domain is federated with a 3rd party product called RM Unify. This allows single sign on to O365 and a bunch of other education sites. Not sure if that is a problem or not, but worth mentioning.

[anthonyd]

Sounds more like a connection issue rather than an issue with the credentials. Does your internet connection require a proxy?

[foofighterjim]

This could be a Unify issue. For example if you browse to the normal O365 login page (https://login.microsoftonline.com) and try to login you will be automatically redirected to RM Unify to sign in. I suspect it is this process that is stopping the connection, worth contacting RM I would think.

[steven_layton_sl]

I tried from home on my ADSL connection and got the same results, so I don't think its a proxy/firewall related issue.

[steven_layton_sl]

I've just logged a call with RM. Lets see if they can offer a reason.

[Michael]

I don't think you can login with a school/business O365 account, but only an Outlook/MSN/Hotmail account. I think this will be possible in a future Win 10 update (top of my head).

[steven_layton_sl]

Michael - Hope that's not true. Especially as the Out Of Box Experience allowed me to try to do so!

[Michael]

Michael - Hope that's not true. Especially as the Out Of Box Experience allowed me to try to do so!

 

On one of my base Win 10 images, running a basic Sysprep (without an answer file), it displays the option to join Azure or a local domain. I tried using a school/business O365 account and it didn't work, but an Outlook/MSN/Hotmail did.

 

Unfortunately O365 and O365 for Business are classified as two different products/solutions, despite being called pretty much the same thing!

[Sylv3r]

I couldn't logon our Surface as a Office365 user either and we are also an RM Unify customer.

[Michael]

I couldn't logon our Surface as a Office365 user either and we are also an RM Unify customer.

 

I don't think RM Unify has any bearing on this at all. I just think it's a current limitation which will change in future.

[steven_layton_sl]

Michael, not saying you're wrong, as the evidence seems to support it. But Office 365 for Education is the same thing as Office 365 for Business and what apart from That would use the Azure login?

[Michael]

Michael, not saying you're wrong, as the evidence seems to support it. But Office 365 for Education is the same thing as Office 365 for Business and what apart from That would use the Azure login?

 

Technically there is no O365 for Education, it all falls under the O365 for Business 'model' as I'll refer to it.

 

Microsoft have essentially setup a public Azure, so since Windows 8 or later, you could either login using your Outlook/MSN/Hotmail account rather than create a separate local login account, just for that computer. That's pretty much the logic/thinking behind it. This of course integrates with Microsoft's subscription licensing model, offering Office and Cloud storage for x amount per year, rather than customers buying Office outright. You can still do this of course, but Microsoft have deliberately made it less attractive price wise.

 

I suppose at the current time, Microsoft still want corporates to use their local AD instances, however logically speaking, if you created your own Azure instance, then in theory you could login using your O365 for Business account. Again, this is pure speculation but may explain why we're all seeing 'computer says no' when trying to login.

[Michael]

This link explains it well and shows you where to sign up

 

The article was updated 30 July 2015, so still fairly recent.