wikiCompatibility of Microsoft Office and RDS-Server
Introduction
Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services (RDS), formerly known as Terminal Server, is often used in conjunction with Microsoft Office. Unfortunately, not all Office versions are fully compatible with this application. It is often difficult to determine which versions of Office are suitable for use with RDS. This wiki article provides an overview of this topic.
Background
The required feature for the use of office on a RDS server is SCA (Shared Computer Activation). This feature is dependent on the Office version and not on the Windows Server Version. With "Shared Computer Activation", you can deploy Microsoft 365 apps on a computer of your company that is accessible to multiple users. This is the exact case that we have on a Remote Desktop Server. The activation of shared computers is required for scenarios in which multiple users use the same computer and log in with their own accounts. Normally, users of Microsoft 365 apps can only install and activate a limited number of devices, for example on 5 PCs. The use of Microsoft 365 apps with activated shared computer activation is not counted toward this limit.
RDS and Office
The most common Office versions and its compatibilities with RDS are presented in the following table:
| Office version | RDS-compatible (SCA) | subscription model | purchase license |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard | ✔ | ||
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Office 365 E3 | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Office 365 E5 | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Microsoft 365 E3 | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Microsoft 365 E5 | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Office 2024 Home and Business | ✔ | ||
| Office 2024 Standard | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Office 2024 Professional | ✔ | ||
| Office 2024 Professional Plus | ✔ | ✔ |
HowTo
If you want to activate common computer activation during the initial installation of Microsoft 365 apps, you can instruct the Office provisioning tool to do this during the installation.
If you want to use the Office Deployment Tool under config.office.com, please make sure that you activate the option "shared computer" in the section product activation. If you want to create the configuration file manually, please make sure to add the following line:
<Property Name="SharedComputerLicensing" Value="1" />
Sources
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/overview-shared-computer-activation
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=626065
Author: Florian Müller
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Translator: Alina Ranzinger Alina has been working at Thomas-Krenn.AG since 2024. After her training as multilingual business assistant, she got her job as assistant of the Product Management and is responsible for the translation of texts and for the organisation of the department.
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