I bought new tablet that was supposed to come with Microsoft Office
365 (free 1 year subscription).
The tablet you purchased came with Office 365 Personal. Office 365 requires an internet connection in order to activate. Every version of Office requires you to activate your license. Specifically Office 365 Personal is a subscription based service, that allows you to always have the current version of Office installed, for the length your subscription is active.
This is how Costco describers Office 365 Personal on the product page for the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Bundle which comes with Office 365 Personal as
Microsoft Office 365 Personal activation code is included in the
package. Please follow the instructions on the code to activate Office
365 Personal.
Here is the product website for the two consumer versions of Office 365.
Is Internet access required for Office?
Internet access is required to install and activate all the latest
releases of Office suites and all Office 365 subscription plans. For
Office 365 plans, Internet access is also needed to manage your
subscription account, for example to install Office on other PCs or to
change billing options. Internet access is also required to access
documents stored on OneDrive, unless you install the OneDrive desktop
app. You should also connect to the Internet regularly to keep your
version of Office up to date and benefit from automatic upgrades. If
you do not connect to the Internet at least every 39 days, your
applications will go into reduced functionality mode, which means that
you can view or print your documents, but cannot edit the documents or
create new ones. To reactivate your Office applications, reconnect to
the Internet. You do not need to be connected to the Internet to use
the Office applications, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, because
the applications are fully installed on your computer.
Here is Microsoft explaining the difference between Office 2013 and Office 365
Office 2013 suites include applications such as Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, and Outlook; they are available as a one-time purchase for
use on a single PC.
Office 365 plans also include the applications plus other services
that are enabled over the Internet, including online storage with
OneDrive and Skype minutes for home use. With Office 365 you get the
full, installed Office experience on PCs, Macs, tablets (including
iPad® and Android™ tablet) and phones. Office 365 plans are available
as a monthly or annual subscription.
How do I activate Office without contacting Microsoft or utilizing a
Hotmail address?
You cannot It is not possible. All you actually need is a Microsoft Account, but since all Microsoft Accounts, even those connected to another email service come with an Outlook Mail account both are not possible.
The product page at CostCo has a footnote that
explains what is meant by the free 1 year subscription.
Activation required by 12/31/16. Subject to License Agreement,
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/useterms/default.aspx.
License Agreements have been upheld in court numerous times. If you want to be able to use Office without a Microsoft Account, the only thing I can suggest is to, purchase the full version of Office 2013.
English - Office 365 Personal - License
I figured out the solution, and it makes sense. This Microsoft article titled "DPAPI MasterKey backup failures when RWDC isn't available" indicates that when a domain user logs in for the first time, and can't contact a read/write domain controller, then DPAPI keys can't be backed up. I'm guessing Office365 uses DPAPI to store your credentials.
I am a remote user. When I deleted/recreated my user account, I was NOT connected to the corporate VPN, so Windows may not have been able to backup my DPAPI keys to the domain controllers.
Not sure where the TPM errors came into play, as (as far as I know) DPAPI doesn't use TPM... but it could have been a generic cryptographic error.
Solution was to set this registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Protect\Providers\df9d8cd0-1501-11d1-8c7a-00c04fc297eb\ProtectionPolicy = 1 (DWORD)
Best Answer
The "offer" probably includes the ability to save the cloud data to the local system once you have a local version installed. The 2010 key will only work to install Office 2010. (Probably only the Office University 2010 that you had, and not some other, Standard or Professional, version.) To install Office 2016 you will need to purchase a 2016 key. If you are still a student, you may be able to get a decent discount on that, but not likely to be free, although not impossible either. Anyway, to use the 2010 key, find the 2010 disc somewhere in your old collection and reinstall it. Then you can use the "offer" to migrate the cloud data to your computer. Once you have a 2016 key, if you choose to get one, you can upgrade your Office 2010 to Office 2016.
Update
I haven't dealt with MS Office since 2010 versions, and avoid subscription-based services for my data. Consequently, most of the above about Office 2016 is way off base. However, misunderstandings of the "free" offer aside, the solution for you is the same.
Since you still have the 25-character product key from Office 2010, you can reinstall that. BTW some sources suggest that doing a "repair" option rather than an install will work, and experimentation with that is up to you.
First you need the installation media for Office 2010. If you have the old disc gathering dust somewhere, find it. If you don't have, never had, the disc, then MS will let you download a copy. Go to their download page, enter the product key you own and follow their instructions.
Now that you have installation media, either insert the disc, or go to the downloaded files, and run the installer. (The disc will probably AutoStart, but if not, find the disc in
My Computerand double click it.)Depending on what the installer detects on your computer, you will have one or more of the following options:
Install Office 2010,Re-install Office 2010, orRepair Office. Choose the one that's available, that best fits your plans. FWIW I'd go for a complete new, total, installation, to be sure that all programs are installed, and nothing is 'linked' to the expired version you upgraded to.Finally, save you install media somewhere in case you need it again; virus issues, buy a new computer, etc. Enjoy the perpetually licensed version, subscription free.