When I started writing this story, I thought it was going to be a rant. Instead it's more testimony to unnecessary hassle. Obviously, we're talking about Microsoft.
Most of you know that I moved from an Exchange hosting provider to Office 365 a few years ago. Although I had Office 2013 licenses as an educator through school, I moved to Office 365 to gain access to Office 365-hosted Exchange. Then, just about a year ago, I moved off of Exchange to Gmail, and haven't looked back.
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In Part 1 of the Parallels Mac Management for SCCM series I installed the Parallels Configuration Manager Console Extension. I installed this on my site server ‘ConfigMgr’. Part 2 focused on the installation of the Parallels Proxy which I installed on a remote server called ‘Parallels’ which.
Although I cancelled my Office 365 Midsize Business plan, I still have my Office 2013 license for my PCs and my Office 2011 license for my Macs.
Yep, there it is. That's the start of this story. I get downloadable Office from the school where I teach, but they only have Office 2011 for Mac. As you probably know, Office 2016 for Mac was released a few weeks ago, and it's much more in line with the PC version of Office 2013 we're all used to.
Office 2011 for Mac is so bad that I have a Parallels install of Windows on most of my Macs, just to run Office 2013 in a Windows virtual machine.
Yesterday afternoon, I caved. I do a tremendous amount of work in Word and PowerPoint, and I just wanted them to run natively on my Macs. I wanted to use Office 2016 and stop all the weirdness that I have to go through when running a Windows instance to edit a Word file.
Unfortunately, while the university has an Office 2011 for Mac license, they haven't yet updated to Office 2016 for Mac, which will probably be sometime this fall. So, at only $89 for the year (with a ten buck academic discount), I bought my own license. You can see my receipt right there, in the screenshot below.
Are you starting to feel the dread? I wasn't. After a year or so away from doing Microsoft installs, I'd forgotten just how much of a DMV-like experience dealing with Microsoft products can be. Let the runaround begin.
One note before I begin. You don't have to read all of this if you don't want. It's just the account of the hassles I went through attempting to do what should have been a very simple process. The tl;dr of Microsoft is often the same: the hassles you go through in an attempt to do what should have been a very simple process.
And with that, the hassles..
The first install
Look at that 'Thank you for your order' screenshot carefully. Do you see the nice blue 'Install Office' button? Yeah, so did I. I even clicked it. The result was a downloaded installer package, which I then ran. After a little whirring and blinking, the installer ran and Office 2016 for Mac was on my Mac.
Clicking Done resulted in the installer launching Word, with a nice blue intro screen. Then came the sign in screen. I dutifully typed in my email address and then cut and pasted my password. A prompt showed up asking if I wanted to use my Office account or my company account. That was, admittedly, a bit baffling because I bought Office Home edition, but hey, I'm tough, I can handle it.
After thinking on it a bit, I ascertained that the message came up because my email address is a custom domain, not something like @gmail.com or @live.com, etc. Since I wasn't using an @live.com or an @outlook.com account, I selected the company option. It wouldn't let me go any further. The Sign In button had been replaced by a Cancel button.
Okay, fine. I still had my receipt page open in my browser, with a nice 'Contact Us for help' button available, so I opened up a chat conversation with a Microsoft support rep:
DG: I am trying to sign in to activate, and it recognizes my email and password, but asks if I want to use Microsoft Account or Work Account. Which one is associated with this purchase?
Microsoft: Okay no worries, as I'd be happy to assist you with anything regarding Microsoft products! You will want to select Microsoft Account.
At this point, I should point out two things. First, my Microsoft rep was 'Paris H' (yeah, not kidding) and after selecting Microsoft Account, it asked me for my username and password again. I tried logging in and was greeted with the unable to activate message below:
DG: It says unable to activate Office.
Paris H: What email address are you trying to use?
(I answered with my personal email address)
Paris H: Just a moment while I look into that for you. Please click here for Office Account Sign In. Sign into your account from there and you should be able to locate the install button.
Let's take a moment to get sidetracked about the use of, you know, the English language. Microsoft calls its product 'Office' and with that comes some linguistic responsibility. I knew what she meant by using my Office Account instead of my Work Account, but seriously? That stuff can make you crazy pretty quickly.
'Click here' was a page off of stores.office.com/myaccount/. It turns out, there was an Install button there as well. So, having already installed Office 2016 and failed in activating it, I asked the obvious question:
DG: I'm signed in, but do I need to install Office again? Should I delete it first?
Paris H: If it is already installed, open up Word 2013 and then click on your name in the top right. Sign out and then sign back in.
That didn't work, because I'd already ran into the problem of opening up Word 2013. All I could think of was, 'You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.' Okay, let's try this again.
DG: It won't let me. It insists I sign in, and is giving me the unable to activate Office message.
Paris H: What I would recommend you do is uninstall and reinstall the software.
Yep, uninstall the software I just installed and then reinstall it so that it might activate. That's got Microsoft DNA written all over it.
Uninstalling Office
Given that this is a Mac and we're talking Office here, I knew in the marrow of my bones that just taking the applications out of the Applications folder and trashing them wouldn't be enough. So I asked for advice. After all, I was still talking with Paris H., and you just don't close the window on Paris H. until the experience is complete.
DG: How do I uninstall office on a Mac?
Paris H: Please click here for Uninstall Office 2011 from a Mac
The link was to instructions for uninstalling Office 2011. I didn't have Office 2011 on this machine. I had just bought, installed, and attempted to use Office 2016. So, I tried again.
DG: No, I have Office 2016 that I need to uninstall because it won't activate. How do I uninstall the brand new Office I just bought because I can't use it?
Okay, so I might have been getting a little testy.
Paris H: I am checking on this now.
(Some time went by)
Paris H: Please click here for Uninstall Office 2016 for Mac
This time the link was more appropriate to the problem. The instructions weren't correct, but the link was right. If you follow the link, you'll see it advises three stages of activity: removing the applications from the Applications folder, deleting a .plist file from the system Library folder and deleting an indeterminate number of .plist files from the user's Library folder.
In the second stage, the instructions state 'In the LaunchDaemons folder, Control+click or right-click com.microsoft.officeprefs.plist and click Move to Trash.' But, as it turns out:
DG: The file specified in Library, com.microsoft.officeprefs.plist, does not exist. There is a file com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist. Is this what should be removed?
Yepper, the instructions Microsoft provided for uninstalling Office were wrong. Can you imagine run-of-the-mill Mac users digging in their Library folder? Can you imagine how bad it could be if someone deleted the wrong .plist file? Think randomly deleting INI files in your System32 folder and you get the idea.
At this point, I'm thinking Paris H started to lose patience with me. I was instantly told 'Yes, that appears to be correct.' and I'm guessing that if ol' Paris had to look up how to uninstall Office, knowing which .plist file to remove wasn't something she could really confirm off the top of her head.
Right after telling me that removing com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist appeared to be a sound strategy, I was dismissed and my celebrity Paris H experience was at an end:
For instance, Parallels Toolbox 3 includes a new Uninstall Apps feature that makes it easy to quickly remove applications from your Mac. Parallels for mac 4k support.
Paris H: Okay, excellent and if you have troubles you can contact us back at anytime.
Paris H: Thanks again for chatting with us at the Microsoft Store, we appreciate your business!
MS (clearly not Paris H): Thank you for chatting with us. Please click the 'Close' button on the top right of the chat window to tell us how we did today.
When it comes to installing Office 2016 on the Mac, at least I'll always have Paris. And I went on with the process.
Reinstalling Office 2016
This time, rather than downloading and installing Office 2016 for Mac from the Install Office button on my receipt, I went back to the link Paris provided, at stores.office.com/myaccount/ and hit that install button. The screen image below shows that I have one install (because I finally do), but when I got to this screen originally, the install count showed zero. I hit the big red button.
I was encouraged by one thing. I had started to worry that I bought the software using my personal email address and because I got an educational discount, perhaps the sign-in required one of my school email addresses. But as soon as I hit the red Install > button, I got the following screen:
In the third step, the screen showed the email address I was supposed to sign in under, and it was my personal email address, the address I used to buy the software. So at least that was something.
Eventually, the software downloaded and I subsequently ran the installer (which was functionally identical to the first installer run). Once the installation was complete, Word once again opened, and I tried logging in.
Success.. sort of.
I was able to login and was, in fact, able to activate Word. Or so I thought. Satisfied with what I thought was a completed installation and activation process, I opened up the Word document I wanted to edit all along. At which point I got this message:
Special, right?
I took a moment to remind myself that it's just software and then took a couple of calming deep breaths. Then I clicked the Activate button. It went through the sign-in process again, and this time, Word reopened, but without any 'you must activate' message.
I have subsequently been able to launch PowerPoint and Excel and they work without any activation messages. So, yay about that.
Final thoughts
I actively jump between three different Macs and one of the reasons I was willing to once again get into Microsoft's subscription clutches is their 5-machine deal with Office is quite reasonable. However, I'm certainly not looking forward to (okay, let's be honest: dreading) this activation hassle on the other two machines.
I once described Microsoft's mission statement thusly:
'Microsoft builds incredibly deep, powerful, and flexible software products that -- before they see the light of day -- must be infused with a level of unnecessary inconvenience, incomprehensible restrictions, and regressive policies such that all possible joy has been removed prior to customer contact.'
Yep, they're on mission.
I came back to Microsoft for this product evolution. But the future? Gosh, I'm getting tired of the hassles Microsoft seems to engineer into their products. I'm certainly going to advocate for solutions that are less hassle.
The thing is, there are a lot of substitute solutions and losing hours to Microsoft's unnecessary inconvenience, incomprehensible restrictions, and regressive policies is getting really, really old.
When customers dread installing your software, you've got some serious problems.
By the way, I'm doing more updates on Twitter and Facebook than ever before. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz and on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz.
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In Part 1 of the Parallels Mac Management for SCCM series I installed the Parallels Configuration Manager Console Extension. I installed this on my site server ‘ConfigMgr’.
Part 2 focused on the installation of the Parallels Proxy which I installed on a remote server called ‘Parallels’ which I intend to use to install the Parallels roles.
Part 3 of the series concluded the ‘role’ installation, namely the NetBoot Server and OS X Software Update Service.
Part 4 of the Parallels series focuses on getting the Parallels Mac client onto a Mac OS X device.
There are various ways in which to get the Parallels Mac client installed on an end device.
I will be showing you the push install method in this blog post, however before I can proceed with the installation I need to activate my installation of Parallels Mac Management for SCCM.
Licence Parallels
To do this Parallels sent me a trial licence that I can use for 30 days from receiving it.
Head on over to https://account.parallels.com and register an account.
In the Dashboard click the ‘Register a Licence Key’
Enter the licence key details provided by Parallels.
You’ll get confirmation that the key was activated.
Next head over to the SCCM console. Navigate to the Administration>Parallels Mac Management>Licences node. Right click the Site Code in the main body and choose ‘Activate Licence’
Enter the licence key once again and select ‘Activate online’. Click Next.
At the summary screen click ‘Activate’.
Click Finish to complete the activation process.
Parallels will now report as being Activated
Discover the Mac devices
Parallels can leverage two methods to discover Mac devices in your environment. It can use the built-in ConfigMgr AD System Discovery, if the devices are domain joined or Parallels have their own Parallels Network Discovery. This can discover both AD join Macs and those that are not connected to a domain.
I will be using Parallels Network Discovery in this blog post since my Mac device is not installed in a domain.
Here’s a run through of the settings to get your Mac discovered.
Parallels Network Discovery is accessed from Administration workspace under Parallels Mac Management>Discovery Methods.
In the General tab ensure that ‘Enable network discovery’ is enabled. Ensure that ports to Mac client are open on one of the ports listed. The default Nmap settings provide the optimal balance between the quality of the results and the time it takes to scan the network.
The Accounts tab states that the client push installation will be used to install the client on to a Mac when a Network Discovery takes place. To configure this account go to Site Configuration>Sites. Right click your site and select ‘Parallels Mac Client Push Installation’
In the Accounts tab, click the Yellow starburst
Enter an account which has local admin rights on the Mac devices.
Back at the Parallels Network Discovery set up, in the Boundaries tab select the boundary in your ConfigMgr site that contains the Mac device.
You can also enter a Subnet to discover devices in.
In the schedule tab enter a relevant schedule for discovery.
When discovery runs a pma_discovery.log will be created in the WindowsLogs folder on the proxy server.
If devices are discovered they will appear in the ConfigMgr console.
Parallels Mac Client Install
Now that we have a Mac object discovered in ConfigMgr we can push the Parallels Mac client to the device. To achieve this however, the following must be enabled on the Mac device.
Grant Administrative Privileges on a Mac to a Domain User or Group
If you want to use a domain account to push install Parallels Mac Client, you need to grant administrative privileges to it on a Mac. You can do this as follows:
Parallels Mac Client Deployment Grant Administrative Privileges to a Local Mac User
If you have Mac computers that are not members of a domain (or if you don’t want to use a domain account for any reason), you need to create a local OS X user with administrative privileges.
To add a user, open System Preferences > Users and Groups, click the plus-sign icon, select Administrator and specify the user information. The username password is used to configure the client push installation.
ParallelsEnable SSH Access on a Mac Parallels
The Configuration Manager Proxy will connect to Mac computers over SSH, so you need to enable SSH access on each Mac. To do so:
After enabling SSH access on a Mac and granting a local or a domain user SSH access, you should verify that you can actually establish an SSH connection. The Mac should allow SSH connection with password authentication.
Once the above configuration is enabled on the Mac right click the discovered Mac object in the ConfigMgr console. Select Parallels Management Tools>Install Parallels Mac Client.
Click Next.
Click ‘Install Parallels Mac Client even if it is installed’ and click Install.
The client will being to install.
Once complete the device will report back to ConfigMgr and be assigned to the site.
You’ll also be able to check out HINV details of the Mac in Resource Explorer.
and the Mac will be added to the All Mac OS X Systems collection.
On the Mac device you will see that a Parallels Mac Management applet is now available in System Preferences.
When opened you’ll notice this appears similar to the ConfigMgr control panel applet. It gives information on the site code, proxy it is connected to and more. The ‘Connect’ button allows you to run something similar to a Machine Policy Retrieval.
Parallels For Mac Installation Stuck At 15
In the Part 5 of the series, I will show you how to deploy software applications to the managed device.
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December 2020
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