Exam accounts O365 activation with no ineternet access allowed

[Harlington_IT]

It's Mocks time of the year again.

For our SEN word processor using exam students we create accounts with home drives on our local file server, and assign them an O365 ProPlus licence.

Internet access is provided via talkstraight and their transparent proxy.

We've set up a deny all policy based on the ExamUsers group, problem is, this blocks O365's access to the activation website, even though we've allowed the usual Microsoft.com and live.com.

 

Anyone else had this issue, or how do you get around the need to activate O365 for each user when access to the internet is blocked?

[ITGURU]

Did you come up with a solution to this?

[Steve21]

Did you come up with a solution to this?

 

The tokens for activation last 30 days, whether user or device based.

 

So either you would need to have them logged in advance as the exam users so it activates prior to exam. Or use device licenses and then you can have them on prior to internet (without being logged in)

 

But obviously both routes still require internet access prior to exams

 

Steve

[ITGURU]

The tokens for activation last 30 days, whether user or device based.

 

So either you would need to have them logged in advance as the exam users so it activates prior to exam. Or use device licenses and then you can have them on prior to internet (without being logged in)

 

But obviously both routes still require internet access prior to exams

 

Steve

Are the licenses that are stored on network share not restricted to same machine/user? each exam account would not usually login to the same machine,?

[thimon]

Ditch Microsoft Office for exams and use ExamWritePad. We did this years ago and haven’t looked back.

[ITGURU]

Ditch Microsoft Office for exams and use ExamWritePad. We did this years ago and haven’t looked back.

What about IT exams where they use office files but not allowed the internet?

[Steve21]

Are the licenses that are stored on network share not restricted to same machine/user? each exam account would not usually login to the same machine,?

 

If you have the option that’s why it’s better using device licenses, then no requirement per individual user.

 

But if you are using user licenses with “shared”’licensing it stores the token in appdata by default , so you can redirect it if you are happy with roaming and share the same token on different machines, alternatively and probably the better option for roaming is you can specify a network share for the tokens in the later versions of 365 apps

 

“Licensing token roaming Starting with Version 1704 of Microsoft 365 Apps, you can configure the licensing token to roam with the user's profile or be located on a shared folder on the network. Previously, the licensing token was always saved to a specific folder on the local computer and was associated with that specific computer.”

 

Steve

[strawberry]

Did you come up with a solution to this?

 

use classroom management software to block the internet, or scupper the proxy using gpo.

 

Both only break the browser.

[ITGURU]

use classroom management software to block the internet, or scupper the proxy using gpo.

 

Both only break the browser.

 

proxy is scuppered in GPO with a fake proxy, which also means they cannot connect to the internet!

[ITGURU]

If you have the option that’s why it’s better using device licenses, then no requirement per individual user.

 

But if you are using user licenses with “shared”’licensing it stores the token in appdata by default , so you can redirect it if you are happy with roaming and share the same token on different machines, alternatively and probably the better option for roaming is you can specify a network share for the tokens in the later versions of 365 apps

 

“Licensing token roaming Starting with Version 1704 of Microsoft 365 Apps, you can configure the licensing token to roam with the user's profile or be located on a shared folder on the network. Previously, the licensing token was always saved to a specific folder on the local computer and was associated with that specific computer.”

 

Steve

 

Yes, i already have this setup as a server share where it saves the license files IF the user has internet. however the point I am making is that when exam accounts are logged on without any internet, they cannot activate. and I cannot log over 100 exam accounts on with internet, remove it and then assume they are going to work for 30 days etc without needing to contact the internet.

 

as for device based licensing, our reseller reckon they don't sell the license based on the article microsoft support sent me?!

[Steve21]

Yes, i already have this setup as a server share where it saves the license files IF the user has internet. however the point I am making is that when exam accounts are logged on without any internet, they cannot activate. and I cannot log over 100 exam accounts on with internet, remove it and then assume they are going to work for 30 days etc without needing to contact the internet.

 

as for device based licensing, our reseller reckon they don't sell the license based on the article microsoft support sent me?!

 

Well you have to do one of the two if you are using M365 versions.... or you stick with 2021 etc (Edit - or the lonnnnng winded way would be setting a custom proxy filter policy that force blocks anything non-MS activation servers etc if you wanted to go that route)

 

Regarding the reseller, they're wrong. They do sell it It might be you're not on a plan that has it, but it's definitely an item. What plan are you using?

 

M365AppsForEntForDevicesEDU ShrdSvr ALNG SubsVL MVL AddOn is the partcode we have on our renewal

 

We renewed ours last month (5000 devices covered):

 

 

Steve

Edited October 26, 2023 by Steve21

[Olliedawg]

I "block" internet access on our exam accounts by disallowing all installed browsers via GPO. (In our case this is just Microsoft Edge). I can recommend ExamWritePad though if its only word processing you are needing.

[thimon]

What about IT exams where they use office files but not allowed the internet?

 

I’ve never had that exam requirement. At most there are PDF files to be read aloud for access arrangements, Edge, Adobe Reader or ExamWritePad can do that.

[jmak]

Do you remove Internet access for the whole machine or just the exam account? Device based activation just needs the machine to connect once every 30 days - it's not per user.

[ITGURU]

I "block" internet access on our exam accounts by disallowing all installed browsers via GPO. (In our case this is just Microsoft Edge). I can recommend ExamWritePad though if its only word processing you are needing.

 

Would you be able to share the part of the policy settings where you managed to block edge launching?

thanks

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I’ve never had that exam requirement. At most there are PDF files to be read aloud for access arrangements, Edge, Adobe Reader or ExamWritePad can do that.

 

IT Controlled Assessments exams

[thimon]

Would you be able to share the part of the policy settings where you managed to block edge launching?

thanks

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

 

 

IT Controlled Assessments exams

 

Never had one. Maybe one day, will cross that bridge.