Installing Volume Licensed Microsoft Project with Office 365

ISSUE:

Microsoft Project 2013 and 2016, specifically the Volume License versions, will not install alongside Office 365 applications.

CAUSE:

Most versions of Project 2013 and 2016 are installed by using Click-to-Run. A volume licensed edition of Project 2013 or 2016 uses a Windows Installed (also known as MSI). A compatibility matrix can be referenced at this Microsoft page.

SOLUTION:

In order to successfully install a volume licensed edition of Project alongside Office 365 application, the Microsoft Office Deployment Tool (ODT) must be used. A detailed installation guide can be referenced at this Microsoft page.

1. Download the most current version of the ODT tool from the Microsoft Download Center.

2. Run the self-extracting executable and extract the setup.exe and the configuration.xml files to an appropriate location on your machine.

3. Open the .xml file in an editor such as Notepad.

4. Visit the Office Click-to-Run Configuration XML Editor on GitHub and set all necessary parameters for your specific install. Multiple options specific to any application can be configured in this tool including Language options, key options, etc. This configuration can be copied into the open configuration.xml file in Step 3 and subsequently saved.

A basic configuration file for Project Standard should look like the example below:

XML configuration file for volume licensed Microsoft Project 32-bit Click-to-Run install
Project Standard x86 XML Configuration

5. Open an elevated (cmd as administrator) command prompt and change directory to the location of the ODT setup.exe and configuration.xml files.

XML configuration file location for volume licensed Microsoft Project 32-bit Click-to-Run install
XML Configuration File and setup.exe Directory

6. Run setup.exe with appropriate flags for your application as defined in the Overview of the Office Deployment Tool

Running XML configuration file for volume licensed Microsoft Project 32-bit Click-to-Run install
Download Updated Project Install Files

Running setup.exe /download will download updated install files for Project and place them into a folder named Office

7. Run setup.exe /configure to start the installation

Running setup.exe with configuration.xml file paramaters
Run setup.exe with XML File
Installation splash screen for Project
Project Click-to-Run Install

8. Upon completion of the install, open Project and navigate to the Product Activation section. You will need to log into the VLSC portal and retrieve the Project Click-to-Run keys issued with every license.

IMPORTANT: The MAK key will NOT work with Click-to-Run versions, there is a separate Click-to-Run key located below the MAK key(s).