Microsoft Office 365 Forum

I installed Office 365 and I sign in with my O365 account but the applications are saying the product is not activated. When I click the "Activate Product" button nothing happens. I have quit the bottle several times but sill get nothing when trying to activate. When I login to the Office portal and check how many computers I can see that are registered I can see the Crossover install. Any tips?

Some customer support system. 4-star rating installing Office 365 and it doesn't even have the functionality. When will this be addressed? Coming from Windows, Office is a big deal including cloud sync functionality. This need to be resolved.

Same here, installation went OK, used img file from MS, converted to ISO and mounted in Linuxmint 19.1. Office 365 opens, works and so far so good - but activation not working no matter what I do. Please fix this or remove working status.

Hi folks,

Microsoft created an enormous number of different Office 2016/Office 365 installation and activation options that all work differently. Some of these work with CrossOver, and others fail for a myriad of reasons. From the information provided, I cannot tell which specific type of activation each of you are attempting. We do have a known bug that prevents activation with CrossOver 18.0 and 18.1 that was caused by a change from Microsoft, so you will need to be using CrossOver 18.5. Microsoft changes the mechanisms surrounding activation constantly, which added to the multitude of different account types and activation methods has created a lot of trouble and agony. If you are using CrossOver 18.5 and still experiencing a problem with activation, I would highly encourage you to open a ticket with our amazing support team ("Contact Us" link at the top of the page). They have extensive knowledge about the many varied types of Office subscriptions and different activation types, and they are experts in assisting people with Office activation.

Thanks,
Anna

Try install Internet explorer 8.0 into the bottle

Keiran WInn wrote:

Try install Internet explorer 8.0 into the bottle

This worked for me, when activating from within Word.

I'm not sure if it was IE8 specifically, or its dependencies (.NET 2.0 and 4.0, and MSXML 3.0) that fixed it.

Looks like there is no IE8 in current Crossover?!?

Hi

Did you try using CrossOver Explorer, it's the wine's replacement for internet explorer.

UPDATE: I dont know why, but now it works fine after I restartet crossover.
Same here, activation doesn't work. I also tried it, after installing Crossover explorer.
Thomas

Similar to what Anna Lasky said, I had activation issues with my setup.

I use an enterprise 365 that is licensed through my company. I activated my work email account through outlook (File ->Info ->Account Settings) which I think is what validated that copy, even though I had the activation window display up to 3 times every time I opened a program until I got past the expiry period.

Also make sure you have the required 32-bit apps installed via cxdialog / System Information. I had to install mesa with off screen rendering capability (osmesa) which also may have contributed to fixing it.

for me installing crossover html engine into the office 365 bottle did the trick.

I am having the same issue as the rest of you I have even tried the html engine but so far no luck activating Office 365. It will ask for my Email Address and then when it should ask for a password I just get a blank box with no where to enter a password.

Hi Clinton,

It sounds like you are running into the new bug that we are investigating right now. There is another active forum post that will probably be more interesting for you to follow for the specific blank sign-in problem :) https://www.codeweavers.com/support/forums/general/?t=26;mhl=231208;msg=231168#msg231208

Thanks,
Anna

Hi everyone! I had been facing the same issue, before I did the following:

0. I installed Internet Explorer's 8 dependencies (i.e. .NET 2.0, 4.0, MSXML 3.0, etc.)
1. I opened crossover
2. I went to / opened the bottle, where my Office 365 is installed
3. Clicked "Run Command..."
4. Typed: regedit
5. and once the registry editor opened, I navigated to: HKEY Current User\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity\
6. Then, I added a: new DWORD Value by right clicking on Identity and selecting New DWORD...
7. I named the new DWORD Value: EnableADAL and set it to 0 (zero)
8. Then, I closed the registry editor, simulated a reboot and reopened my Office 365 installation.

That solved my problem, i.e. I was able to Log into my account and activate my product (no blank/white/black screens appeared)

P.S. I am neither a native speaker, nor an eloquent one, so my instructions might be a little bit incomprehensible. I hope this helped, anyway!

My issues with the activation are the following: after I type in my e-mail address that I normally use for activation on Windows, Office 365 is constantly complaining about the browser being not up to date, and fails to open up any browser (I managed to install Firefox and Edge). BTW Crossover failed to run any of the IE8 installers I downloaded (those being destined for XP, the only ones I came across).

I have the same problem.

Hi there,

We are aware of the issue that some people are having wrt the message about updating your browser. We have a bug tracking this and we are working on a solution.

Best,
Meredith

It seems activation is problematic again. I can submit my account name, but when it would redirect me to the Okta portal of my organization, the dialog simply disappears. I tried installing IE8, but only its dependencies can be installed and those do not make a difference.

What would be helpful to debug this? I could compile my own version of Wine if that helps.

Hi Julius,

Were you previously able to activate this way? Sadly, it is a known issue that multi-factor authentication doesn't work for Office in CrossOver (and this is a separate issue from the one described in this thread) :/ We have tried to fix it, but it's a very difficult problem to solve.

Best,
Meredith

I don't think I activated that way before indeed. But it's not specific to MFA I would say. Simply any HTML based authentication does not appear to work. One can fill in their e-mail address, but there is a piece of JavaScript that the 'Next' button would trigger. Then based on the e-mail address you'd be redirected to the right portal. That bit does not work. Pressing the 'Next' button does not do anything.

I suspect this would need significant work on Wine Gecko?

Hi again Julius,

Just to be clear, are you only trying with the account that you requires MFA, or are you saying that you're also having trouble with another account that doesn't require MFA? We haven't seen this issue with the multiple accounts we test with internally, and we don't have other reports like this, so I'm trying to determine if there are any other factors at play.

Best,
Meredith

Hi Meredith,

The form does end up using MFA, so in that regard my account does use MFA. However from the point of view of the application, it's simply a web form in which multiple fields have to be filled in. Having one field more or less wouldn't make a difference. I suspect there might be something different about the MS Office version/account you're referring to.

At one point after restarting it showed a dialog "Thank you for installing, would you like to activate", then clicking next, I get:
"We're sorry, something went wrong and we can't do this for you right now. Please try again later. ( 0x80070426 )

Best regards,
Julius

Any news/update on the MFA/2FA issue (which by the way works perfectly in Thunderbird)?

Someone asking here, too:

https://www.codeweavers.com/support/forums/general/?t=26;mhl=234969;msg=234969#msg234969

Hi folks,

No, there is no update on this issue. We expect it will be a difficult problem to solve in Wine, and we are severely constrained by the fact that we can not test this internally.

To have really any hope at all of fixing this, we would need volunteers who would be willing to provide logs of the failure AND be willing to test potential fixes in a timely manner if/when we have any from our development team. I recognize this isn't a small ask, but that's unfortunately what we would need. And of course, there would be no guarantee of a timeline for a fix: that would depend on developer resources and the scope of the changes needed, which can be very hard to estimate for Wine.

I wish I had more promising news, but this is the situation we are in for this particular problem. If anyone is willing to help out, please let me know.

Best,
Meredith

Meredith,
you wrote that you need "volunteers who would be willing to provide logs of the failure AND be willing to test potential fixes" ...
I just installed Office 365, it installs and runs, but I can not activate it. This is because I can not enter username and password into the mask which opens when entering my MS-account with our local school provider UCS. It works flawless on Windows machines.
Which logs do you need, and where should I send them in?
Thanks and best wishes
Tobias

Tobias Hilbricht wrote:

Meredith,
you wrote that you need "volunteers who would be willing to provide
logs of the failure AND be willing to test potential fixes" ...
I just installed Office 365, it installs and runs, but I can not
activate it. This is because I can not enter username and password
into the mask which opens when entering my MS-account with our local
school provider UCS. It works flawless on Windows machines.
Which logs do you need, and where should I send them in?
Thanks and best wishes
Tobias

Hi Tobias,

The easiest way to do this would be via ticket: please open a support ticket, mentioning my name and Office MFA support.

Thanks!
Meredith

Any updates regarding Office activation with MFA? Tried installing office, the login window just disappears instead of showing the MFA/SSO login page. I'm willing to provide logs and test whatever needed.

Hi there,

This is still on our list to look at, but unfortunately, we haven't been able to investigate much yet :/

Best,
Meredith

Marc Galloway wrote:

I installed Office 365 and I sign in with my O365 account but the applications are saying the product is not activated. When I click the "Activate Product" button nothing happens. I have quit the bottle several times but sill get nothing when trying to activate. When I login to the Office portal and check how many computers I can see that are registered I can see the Crossover install. Any tips?

Hello. How to activate Office 365 product key. I couldn't do it :(.

I eventually got it to activate by randomly opening up all the individual apps and retrying, despite the requirement for MFA. Outlook account setup still fails before I even get to enter a password... so I am guessing MFA is still very broken? Are test subjects still needed for this?

It's 2023 and I'm getting the same error as everybody else when using MFA. Unfortunately, I can't disable it or create an app password. Has anybody been able to fix this?

Marc Galloway wrote:

I installed Office 365 and I sign in with my O365 account but the applications are saying the product is not activated. When I click the "Activate Product" button nothing happens. I have quit the bottle several times but sill get nothing when trying to activate. When I login to the Office portal and check how many computers I can see that are registered I can see the Crossover install. Any tips?

This problem has been reported by several users, and it's related to multi-factor authentication causing difficulties in the activation process.

As of the latest updates in this thread, there hasn't been a comprehensive solution provided. The issue seems to persist, and while some users have reported workarounds like installing Internet Explorer 8 dependencies or modifying registry settings, these solutions may not work for everyone.

Since this issue is quite specific and challenging to resolve, I recommend reaching out to Crossover's official support or checking their forums for any updates or official solutions. They might have additional insights or updates on the status of this problem and could provide guidance tailored to your specific setup.

I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck in resolving this activation issue!

It is 2024 and two-factor authentification still fails. This needs to be fixed since more and more companies are activating two-factor.

I saw the new release and decided to give it a go. Followed the instructions and installed 365 version 2002 32 bit in a Windows 7 bottle. Installed fine, however blank screen as soon as I go to activate. Failed at the first hurdle. At the moment I am using MS-365-Electron and it serves most my uses. However would have loved this to have worked. As the previous comment said its probably as I also have 2fa. 😖

Arnt Nordli wrote:

It is 2024 and two-factor authentification still fails. This needs to be fixed since more and more companies are activating two-factor.

My company uses 2FA and I did not have this problem. It might be that I had to quit or restart the bottle, but I don't remember.
Machine: Lenovo T14 with Ubunut 22.04.
Probably not related, but playing with DXVK and/or Esync settings led to crashes and apps not starting properly.

Machiel van der Bijl wrote:

Arnt Nordli wrote:

It is 2024 and two-factor authentification still fails. This needs to be fixed since more and more companies are activating two-factor.

My company uses 2FA and I did not have this problem. It might be that I had to quit or restart the bottle, but I don't remember.
Machine: Lenovo T14 with Ubunut 22.04.
Probably not related, but playing with DXVK and/or Esync settings led to crashes and apps not starting properly.

So I was on a fresh install of Ubuntu 23.10 on a new Lenovo. Like I say the install worked with minor graphical glitches until I needed to sign in. Both personal and business account, got to the password screen and going to click Sign in and blank. If I cannot activate then I cannot use. Tried a few workarounds discussed but no joy.

At the moment its WinApps-org or MS-365-Electron.

I also cannot activate the office, I try to sign in to the MS account but when I submit the email the window just turns white.

Same. I have a Windows 7 32-bit bottle. I tried installing .NET 4.8 and Edge in the bottle and the regedit trick above...no go.

Any news about that ?
Like others, I can submit log files if needed to help you fix this problem.
I reported this, but you even don't ask any log...
So clearly, are you working on this issue ?
If not, please say it clearly to indicate there is no need for me to renew my license.

June 2024, I have the same problem with activation of 365. It just throws a blank window.
Any news?

Alan Kerr wrote:

June 2024, I have the same problem with activation of 365. It just throws a blank window.
Any news?

Same here. Activation window is blank. Ubuntu 24.04.1, Crossover 24.0.4.

I have no problem activating Office 365 with the installer downloaded on
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/download-office#download

I did not install IE8 or any other apps, only the office installer and the activation works.

My account does not have 2FA enabled
Using Kubuntu 24.04.1 with Crossover 24.0.4 with MS365 Version 2002

MS Office Activation seems weird. sometimes it asks for an account and fails at the password prompt, and sometimes (rarely) it just magically activates out of nowhere, no login needed., kinda weird.

My1 wrote:

MS Office Activation seems weird. sometimes it asks for an account and fails at the password prompt, and sometimes (rarely) it just magically activates out of nowhere, no login needed., kinda weird.

If you downloaded in your account licenses page on the Microsoft website, it will activate automatically
If you downloaded elsewhere, like the link i received where it will just give you the installer, it will not activate and you need to sign in in-app.

Using the installer I linked can activate in-app successfully and not failing at the password prompt (I got stuck there with MS2016, but not MS365 with the installer I linked)

Something I noticed is I couldn't copy and paste a password in to activate, I had to type it in manually. Interestingly, one activation test I did by going to Account - User Information and clicking the Fix button caused a program error / unhandled exception with a register dump but the activation succeeded anyway.

I'm unsure why it wouldn't accept my password when copying and pasting but at least it seems to work consistently by typing it in. I'm wondering if some extra whitespace is being added.