Problem Definition:
When implementing or migrating to a cloud solution, resellers find that unless their provider is a Microsoft QMTH, they might have to utilize both a Microsoft Office Suite license, as well as a Microsoft Office 365 license.
Resolution:
CloudConnect is a Microsoft Qualified Multi-Tenant Host, meaning that our virtual desktops are capable of running Office 365 when configured with Shared Computer Activation. Below is outlined out to set up Microsoft Office 365 on your CloudConnect virtual machine.
Office 365 ProPlus and all Office 365 suites that include Office 365 ProPlus (including E3 and E5) are eligible for the QMTH Program. Project Online Professional and Visio Pro for Office 365 are also eligible for the QMTH Program. Office 365 Business and Office 365 Business Premium are NOT eligible.
Locate your client's virtual machine and click the 'Actions' dropdown
Select the "Create Snapshot" option
Ensure only the Quiesce box is checked
Ensure the snapshot completed successfully
Navigate back to the 'Actions' dropdown, and select "Insert Media"
Click the filter icon and type "O365". Click on the newest version of O365Config iso, and click Insert. (As of this article being written, the most recent version is V402)
>>IMPORTANT!<<
It is critical that you remove the license key that is automatically attached to the VM with your CloudConnect Desktop. Otherwise you might still be charged for typical SPLA licensing.
>>IMPORTANT!<<
Right click the start menu icon, and open Programs and Features
Uninstall the Office Suite. Uninstalling Microsoft Office and Installing Office 365 Pro Plus will preserve each user’s Office Settings as these settings are stored in the user’s windows profile and Office 365 profile.
Continue with the uninstallation
Open an internet browser, and sign in to office.com
Download Office 365
Complete the installation
Open the file browser, and navigate to the DVD Drive.
Open the executable, and proceed through the prompts.
Once the application finishes successfully, navigate back to vCloud Director and remove the VM's snapshot.
As each end-user opens Office for the first time, they will be prompted to activate by validating with their Microsoft account.
From here, you're finished! Open any Office program and use it as normal.
Congratulations, you're done!
Additional Information:
For each Office 365 license, a user is allotted 5 devices to use that license on. This means that the End User’s virtual desktop will count as one of these. CloudConnect is required to report to Microsoft the number of users and licenses being utilized on our platform, and we do this by Azure Active Directory Tenant ID and Office 365 Tenant ID.
Once activated, CloudConnect will remove the Microsoft Office SKU from the monthly invoice. To assist our partners with licensing compliance, a $0.00 O365 SCA SKU, along with a quantity of users will appear on the monthly invoice/usage reports. We do this so partners can reconcile the total number of Office 365 installations to the total number of licenses that CloudConnect is reporting to Microsoft each month.
To ensure compliance, each Office 365 installation should correspond to a single Office 365 Tenant ID (organization), and each user accessing the installation must have an Office 365 license within that same Office 365 Tenant ID.
To learn more about how CloudConnect streamlines application management, you can click here to download our latest Citrix whitepaper.