Office 365 Logo
Once you deploy Remote Desktop Services (RDS) for employee remote access, your next step will be to install user applications as well as all your line of business applications.
One of the most widely used applications suite is Microsoft Office, particularly Microsoft Office 365.
In order to deploy Microsoft Office 365 in a Remote Desktop Services environment, a number of requirements must be met. There is also special instructions which must be followed to properly deploy it.
This information also applies when you want to install Office 365 / Microsoft 365 to a shared virtual machine or a golden image for VDI (for VDI you can read my full guide “Deploy, Install, and Configure Microsoft Office 365 in a VDI Environment“).
After reading and completing the steps in this blog post and deploying Office 365, you can head over to my guide on how to Configure Office 365 in a Remote Desktop Services Environment using GPOs to pre-configure Microsoft Office and it’s applications for when your users log in.
To deploy Microsoft Office 365 on a Remote Desktop Services Server, you’ll need:
Special attention must be paid to licensing. In order to properly license and activate Office 365, you’ll need one of the following products that supports Shared Computer Activation:
All 4 of these products include and support “Shared Computer Activation“.
Microsoft 365 Standard, Office 365 Business, Office 365 Business Premium, and Office 365 Business Essentials cannot be used as they do not include or support Shared Computer Activation.
An exception is made for Microsoft 365 Business Premium which actually includes Microsoft 365 Apps for Business, but doesn’t support enabling “Shared Computer Activation” via Group Policy Objects and must be done using the XML configuration file method.
Once you have the proper licensing and you’re ready to proceed, you can start!
setup.exe /download configuration-Office365-x64.xmlTo download the 32-bit version or enterprise version, use one of the other xml files that are in the directory.
<Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="True" />These variables enable Shared Computer Activation and disable automatic activation. Save the file.
<Property Name="SharedComputerLicensing" Value="1" />
setup.exe /configure configuration-Office365-x64.xml
Office 365 should now install silently, and then afterwards you should be good to go!
When a user logs in for the first time it will ask them to activate on their account. The user must have a license attached to their Office 365 account.
For more information and advanced settings, you can see the Microsoft guide here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/deploy-office-365-proplus-by-using-remote-desktop-services.
You are now ready to proceed to Configure Office 365 in a Remote Desktop Services environment, so that everything is configured and ready to use when your users log in.
In this post, I'll go over the process how to Migrate a VMware App Volumes SQL Database to a new server (or location), and also go over the reasons why… Read More
You may notice a frozen session or frozen screen with NVIDIA vGPU, Windows 11, and VMware Horizon in your VDI environment. While I've mostly observed this issue using non-persistent Instant… Read More
While most of us frequently deploy new ESXi hosts, a question and task not oftenly discussed is how to properly decommission a VMware ESXi host. Some might be surprised to… Read More
This guide will outline the instructions to Disable the VMware Horizon Session Bar. These instructions can be used to disable the Horizon Session Bar (also known as the Horizon Client… Read More
Normally, any VMs that are NVIDIA vGPU enabled have to be manually migrated with manual vMotion if a host is placed in to maintenance mode, to evacuate the host. While… Read More
You may experience GPU issues with the VMware Horizon Indirect Display Driver in your environment when using 3rd party applications which incorrectly utilize the incorrect display adapter. This results with… Read More
View Comments
Oh how I wish I saw this before I tried running Office 365 in our Citrix environment (utilizes RDS). I got slapped in the face by the ProPlus license requirement. Now with the current situation crushing our retail business, I'm not sure when we'll be able to upgrade those licenses so we can use Office 365 in Citrix.
I still have a server in maintenance mode because I'm too sad to put it back in production without Office. At least it's a VM so it's protected from my tears that are all over its VMWare host.
thank you for this. I lost my notes when setting this up a couple years ago, and this helped me get that info back without having to comb though MS articles. just an added comment to this. if adding to an image or (WVD), please note: do not launch any of the applications. just run updates as normal and close out the image. if you launch any of the applications it will break the licensing. you will have to uninstall, reboot, and install again. ( you may have to run the uninstaller assistant from MS)
Glad it helped Caleb, and thanks for additional info! :)
Stephen
The naming of the products has changed; Office 365 Business is now 365 Business Apps, etc.
What will be the behaviour of Office without the lines below? I mean, automatic activation sounds fine to me.
This method works on Windows Server 2019 RDS?
We applied Office 2016 en 2019 succesfully with Exchange Online accounts on Windows 2016 RDS, this does not seem to work anymore on Windows 2019 RDS, is that correct?
That means that on Windows 2019 you are forced to apply at leat Office 365 E3 in stead of just Exchange Online...
Hi, im also seeing an issue with connecting Office 365 with Exchange online in RDS 2019 when using Roaming Profiles. cannot seem to get it to work.
Hi Sean,
What is the issue you're experiencing, could you describe it?
Stephen
An update for the article.
Microsoft 365 is now called Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
Note RE licencing:
The Microsoft 365 Business Premium plan is the only business plan that includes support for shared computer activation. There are other business plans, such as Microsoft 365 Business Standard, that include Microsoft 365 Apps for business, but, those business plans don't include support for shared computer activation.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/overview-shared-computer-activation
James,
ANY plan that includes the new verbiage "Microsoft 365 Apps" includes support for shared computer activation. More than one plan has this verbiage.
From MS itself, "Microsoft 365 Apps is a version of Office that's available through many Office 365 (and Microsoft 365) plans."
Worked perfectly Thank you
Apps for business and Standard do not work Had to go to premium to get shared computer activation
Hi Michael, glad to hear! Cheers!
Looking for help -
I've followed these instructions and still get an error that says that 'Product we found in your account cannot be used to activate Office in shared computer scenarios'
I'm using Premium/Standard (whatever Microsoft is calling it these days) and it matches both license type and installer with a working install on another server.
Either I have installed it wrong or Microsoft has drastically changed license requirements in the last couple of months? I tend to point to me installing it wrong, but how can I tell?
Hi Bruce,
You need to find out if your product supports Shared Computer Activation. At a minimum Microsoft 365 Premium is required.
If your using Premium, instead of the enterprise offerings, you'll need to enable Shared Computer Activation using the XML file (versus the GPO method).
If you're using Standard, it does not support Shared Computer Activation.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Stephen
That's the confusion, of course - It lists as both Premium and Standard depending on where you view the license.
Is there a way to verify that the 'shared computer activation' is active in O365? That's my biggest worry, that I've done something wrong there and it's not actually able to do that. The product is installed without an issue, using the XML file.
Hi Bruce,
It shouldn't be listing both products. When generating the XML you need to make sure the product is the one the licenses are for.
To check if Shared Computer Activation is enabled, open an Office app, then seldct File - > Office Account - > About Outlook.
It should say that it's enabled, if it is.
Wanted to follow up and say we DID find we had the wrong license. Your instructions were very helpful and I appreciate the extra info. You put me in the right direction.
Hey Bruce! Glad to hear you got it sorted out!
Cheers!
Hi and thanks for a valuable post and answers!
Our 5 users already have Microsoft 365 Business Standard and they want to use Office Apps on there own RDS server, do they need to upgrade all there licenses to Premium or is it ok to just have 1 licens with Microsoft 365 Business Premium on the RDS server?
For what I understand it's the Shared Activation that is important and with 1 license installed on the RDS this would be fullfilled but do we need to upgrade all the users licenses to Premium in this case?
Hi Jonny,
You're welcome!
Microsoft 365 is licensed per user, so each user will require a license. If you have 5 users, you will require 5 licenses.
As for Shared Computer Activation (SCA), you'll need Microsoft 365 Premium. Microsoft 365 Business Standard does not include Shared computer activation.
In your situation that you described, you'll need 5 Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses for 5 users to use Share Computer Activation on RDS.
Cheers,
Stephen
According to this Microsoft information, Microsoft 365 Business Premium should also be able wo work on a RDS server:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployOffice/overview-shared-computer-activation
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/deploy-microsoft-365-apps-remote-desktop-services
Hi JorgenW,
That is correct. I've tried to clean up the wording to make it a little more clear in the post.
Thanks,
Stephen
Just migrated users from E3 licenses to Business Premium - is there a way to flip the install of 365 pro Plus to shared activation on an existing terminal server that users are getting activations errors on now?
Hi James,
I'm not sure if the product has to be re-installed or not, but if it doesn't, you'd need to enable Shared Activation via registry or do a "/configure" with a new XML file that has the strings in it.
Essentially, business premium cannot use GPOs to configure SCA. You must do so using the XML on configure, or via a registry key.
Cheers,
Stephen
I have successfully set up 2019 RDS with MS 365 Business Premium licenses for about 15 users. It's been running fine since last March. My only gripe (and users as well) is that quite often users will get "yellow triangle" next to their name in all remote Office apps. Effectively they loose ability to save docs into OneDrive. Most of the time all they need to do is just click on triangle and "sign in" again, a major PITA according to users. With MFA enabled it's even more annoying. Any reason for this behavior?
Hi Andrew,
There's a few reasons this could be happening:
1) SCA isn't configured and/or isn't working
2) You're missing some GPO configuration to configure the users Office installs
3) There could be some issues with your AD integration with M365, or issues with your Hybrid AD deployment.
Cheers,
Stephen
Thank you Stephen,
1) SCA should be ok as many users are constantly working on our sessions host without any issues
2) I'm going to have to re-check my GPO as this might be the key here, thanks!
3) AD integration seems to be fine, it's been working for sever years, before RDS implementation.
I'm going to read through your "Configure Office 365 in a Remote Desktop Services Environment" article and see what I've missed
Andrew
Sounds good!
If SCA isn't working, it might still be activating the product in the traditional way, just an FYI.
Cheers and Goodluck with the troubleshooting!
Stephen