Applies to: Office 2019 for Mac, Office 2016 for Mac The Volume Serializer (VL) is used to activate Office 2019 for Mac or Office 2016 for Mac as a volume licensed version. As reported by The Verge, the new version is essentially everything Office 365 has been offering over the past several years, packaged in a new version that’s available.
- TL;DR - Installing Office 2019 VL Serializer on Macs with Office 2016 will de-activate 2016 until the 2019 (16.17) updates are installed. Sep 28, 2016 - On one of your machines that has a broken license run. Sudo Unlicense -volume. Simply give it an OS X installer, let it download current Apple. MAC.COM Subject: Re: Office 2016 VL.
- There seem to exist different versions of the Serializer (different hashes), but the name is always 'MicrosoftOffice2016VLSerializer2.0.pkg'. What is the latest release/detailed name of the Serializer?
Soon Microsoft are to release an update to the Office 2016 Volume License installer on VLSC.
This update is 15.17 & is the first that has a few changes that may affect the way you deploy Office 2016.
These changes are going to be later enforced in 15.20 & onwards. Below are some details on the changes, some of the why & how via the power of the MacAdmins.org Slack & the awesome @pbowden that some of us have had a sneak peek.
Contents
- 1 What’s Changing?
When you download the .iso from VLSC you’ll notice two packages within it:
The change is the new second pkg: “Microsoft_Office_2016_VL_Serializer.pkg”
What’s that about?
Well, for a while now it’s been fairly common practice to deploy the Office license to Macs outside of the Office installers or updates.
This came about as on occasion an Office Update or Installer would delete the file.
However, whilst the deletion itself was a bug, the ability to use the license.plist across Macs was also a bug.
What is it & should I use it?
With Office 2016, Microsoft are moving to a device based serialisation method. Which means that deploying the plist /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensingv2.plist will no longer work.
This device based serialisation is based around the generating a license on the Mac that is to be running Office 2016.
So if you employ monolithic imaging or deploy Office 2016 via a Composer snap shot etc, the serialisation will not work. (Please don’t deploy Office 2016 via a Composer snap shot, use the pkg).
Also, if you install Office 2016 whilst booted to another volume (as in when installing via a NetBoot or NetInstall volume or something like Target Mode Imaging), again the serialisation will not work.
To install Office 2016 from another volume & have the serialisation work, cache it locally on the Mac being imaged & install on first boot or if using Casper Imaging check “Install on boot drive after Imaging” for the PKG from within Casper Admin.
However, to enable Office 2016 to be correctly licensed in the multitude of deployment scenarios that we mac admins employ, @pbowden & his team have created the “Microsoft_Office_2016_VL_Serializer.pkg”
Office For Mac Serializer
Running this will correctly serialise the Office 2016 suite, & should be run from the Mac that’s running the suite. So again, can be added post imaging & then the suite will be correctly serialised.
To be clear, this will only affect you if using the Volume Licensed version of Office 2016 & not the Office365 version.
What happens if I carry on copying the licensing.plist?
For now, not much. Adobe lightroom for mac desktop computers.
15.17 is the first release with the “Microsoft_Office_2016_VL_Serializer.pkg”, from 15.20 (scheduled for Q1 2016) you will have to use the correct license.
How did people find this out?
Airserver license key mac. Well a little over a month ago a gentleman with the nick @pbowden hopped into the #microsoft-office channel on the MacAdmins.org Slack, this was awesome as @pbowden is a: Software engineer for Office for Mac/iOS at Microsoft, a fellow Brit & nice guy.
It’s been a great few weeks with the community sharing feedback with @pbowden & some of us being able to test pre-release installers for Office.
Microsoft Office 2016 For Mac Vl Serializer
I hope this warning has been as helpful to you, as it was when @pbowden shared it with us.
Linear algebra by ar vasishtha pdf free download windows 7. Posted 2016 February 11
This document aims to provide answers to key questions regarding deployment of Office 2016 for Mac under a volume licensing agreement. It relies heavily on information from the MacAdmins Slack and the following references:
- Demystify Office 2016 for Mac (Clayton Burlison): https://clburlison.com/demystify-office2016/
- Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac Downloads (Paul Bowden, Microsoft): https://macadmins.software
I would like to include Office 2016 (or a subset of its apps) in my (re-)deployment image. Can I do this?
Yes and no. You may include the Office 2016 apps in your image if you choose, but the volume licensing mechanism is tied to the boot drive of the machine, so you will need to run the VL Serializer pkg (found on the Volume License installer dmg as of version 15.17) on the booted system after you deploy your image. For example, DeployStudio users could include the VL Serializer pkg in their workflow, selecting the 'Postponed Installation' option so that it would be installed on first boot. Note: In a future release of Office 2016, Office apps will check for a valid VL serialization on each launch. Currently, they check periodically, so while it might work if you bake the VL serializer or the resulting plist file into your image, it is destined to fail eventually. (The originally scheduled release for this was 15.20, but it has been held back.)
If I choose to include (unserialized) Office 2016 into a deployment image, what installer type(s) can I use?
If you are creating an image modularly (e.g., using AutoDMG), you need Standalone (individual app) installers, available from http://macadmins.software. In future, it may be possible to use SKU-less (a.k.a. Office 365/Retail) as well, but there is currently an issue with the postflight script that prevents proper installation on a non-booted volume.
If you are still using the Golden Machine method, you can use either SKU-less (O365/Retail) for the full suite or Standalone for individual apps.
You did read the first question, right? You still have to serialize each individual machine after image deployment.
If I choose to automatically install Office on first boot (i.e. command line install automated by DeployStudio, Munki, Casper, etc.), which installers can I use?
- Volume License. This gives you the full suite and does the volume licensing for that machine. (If you are using Munki, you can use a ChoiceChangesXML file to exclude any apps you do not want to install.) The only downside is that the VL installer is often a version or two version behind the current Office365/Retail release.
- SKU-less (Office365/Retail). This gives you the full suite and the most recent version available. (The same comment about ChoiceChangesXML for Munki applies here.) In your workflow, install this followed by the VL Serializer pkg, which you retrieve from the Volume License installer dmg (15.17 and later).
- Standalone or Standalone VL. If you just want individual apps from the suite, you can use these installers. If you are the Volume License administrator, you can obtain such installers with the VL installer baked in. If you only have access to the full suite VL installer dmg, you can use the same method as SKU-less, where you install one or more of the app installers and then install the VL serializer pkg. Note: The VL Serializer only works if an Office 2016 app is already installed. Sequence your installers accordingly. The down side of this method is that installers for each app contain duplicate resources because of sandboxing, so they require more deployment storage/bandwidth.
If I don't want Microsoft Auto Updater (MAU) to provide updates, how can I control that?
Blank Board Serializer Mac
- You can choose not to install MAU if the tool you use supports it. For example, if you are using Munki, you can create a ChoiceChangesXML file that tells it not to install it from Standalone & SKU-less installers (see https://github.com/arubdesu/microsoft-recipes for details). You can also use this technique to take a full suite installer and exclude apps you don't want (e.g., not installing Outlook on a shared machine). You would then retrieve updaters (combo or the upcoming delta updaters) manually (e.g., from the http://macadmins.software page) or using AutoPkg recipes.
- Use a profile to tell MAU to never check for updates (e.g., Greg Neagle has one on GitHub). MAU will still be installed, and could be run manually, unless you go further and prevent it from launching with another configuration profile.
Originally posted on the University of Calgary Integrated Arts Media Labs web site.