Office 365 License Activation and Usage Queries

[stantheman]

I am new to Office 365 and have purchased a license that covers up to 5 devices under a single email address ([email protected]). I downloaded the setup.exe from the supplier and registered my Microsoft 365 account.

I have a standalone PC used by a single user. I logged into the machine as the local administrator and installed the Office products. When I launched Word, it prompted me to activate the license. I signed in with my credentials, and it confirmed that Office is now activated.

My question is: when the end user (a standard user) logs into the same machine and opens Word, they are prompted to activate the license again. If they enter the same credentials as I used, does this count as a second activation, thereby reducing the total available activations from 5?

I was under the impression that once Office is activated by an administrator, other users on the same machine should be able to use Office without requiring additional activation.

Additionally, going forward, if I want to deactivate or transfer the license, do I need to log in as the administrator, open an Office application, and sign out to free up an activation? How exactly does deactivation work in this scenario? What happens when I try and install Office on a 6th machine or I have a HDD failure?

Or, alternatively, should I just get the end user to sign in and I (admin) install Office (by right-clicking and choosing 'Run as administrator') instead of installing and activating the license using the local admin account?

Finally, is there a report or tool that shows which devices the license has been installed on? Can I remove or deactivate the license from specific devices if needed? Apologies, I am quite new to M365 and appreciate any guidance. I have seen images of (portal.office.com but wouldn't know where to start!)

[KK20]

[email protected] has 365 licensing which allow up to five devices licenses.  So when [email protected] logs on, it will check the computer hash with MS to see if that device with user [email protected] is licensed and decrement from the original 5 when it creates and stores a new hash.  You can see which devices are currently in use by clicking on "view account" and devices for [email protected]) it should also give you the licensing.   If [email protected] logs onto the very same pc then word will check if [email protected] has a license and if so how many PCs [email protected] is allowed to use.  [email protected] is not the same as [email protected]

 

In your case, [email protected] will not be licensed at all, however [email protected] will be.   There are licenses that cover the "Device-based licensing for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise" regardless of who logs on, but these are big enterprise licenses for lots of users.  Office 365 needs to be installed slightly differently to take this into account.  Domestic 365 licenses are for single email addresses (or family licenses with I think 5 users)

 

Now it you log onto a PC using a non-microsoft account then word will ask which microsoft account to use and technically speaking [email protected] can be used to log into word and technically speaking the PC should be the same.  However, "you" purchased the license and "you" are not "them" who is logged in, so also technically speaking "they" should purchase a license.

[stantheman]

Many thanks for the detailed reply. That makes a lot of sense now. Thanks for the clarification.