M365 Business Standard renewal surprise: new subscription required!
Hi all, I wanted to share a recent experience in case it helps other Microsoft 365 admins. For many years, I have renewed several Microsoft 365 Business Standard subscriptions by purchasing annual product keys through the Microsoft eCompany Store and redeeming them in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center using the Extend end date workflow. This year, the renewal process suddenly stopped working. Symptoms When redeeming a newly purchased Microsoft 365 Business Standard key, the Admin Center displayed: "The product key you've entered can't be applied to this subscription. Instead, use this product key to add licenses to a new subscription." At first glance, this made no sense because: The existing subscription was Microsoft 365 Business Standard. The newly purchased product was also Microsoft 365 Business Standard. The purchase source was the same Microsoft eCompany Store that had been used previously. The renewal process had worked successfully for years. I initially suspected: Region mismatch Billing platform changes Subscription corruption Invalid product keys None of those turned out to be the cause. Investigation A few interesting findings: The subscription was still under MOSA (Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement). The keys were valid and recognized by Microsoft. The same behavior occurred with multiple Business Standard subscriptions. Redeeming from a US IP address vs. a non-US IP address made no difference. After multiple support escalations, Microsoft eventually confirmed that the behavior is by design. Root Cause (per Microsoft Support) Microsoft advised that although the product name is still Microsoft 365 Business Standard, the newly purchased keys belong to a different offer variant than the existing subscription. As a result: The keys are valid. The subscription is valid. However, the new keys cannot extend the existing subscription. The keys can only be used to create a new subscription. In other words, two products can both be called Microsoft 365 Business Standard while still being considered different offers internally. Workaround The Microsoft-recommended workaround was: Redeem the new product keys using Create Subscription. A new Microsoft 365 Business Standard subscription is created in the same tenant. Reassign users from the old subscription to the new one. Allow the old subscription to expire. The existing tenant, users, mailboxes, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, domains, etc. remain unchanged. Only the underlying subscription providing the licenses changes. Feedback The frustrating part was not the technical workaround. The issue was that there was no obvious indication prior to purchase that a Business Standard key purchased today would not be able to extend a Business Standard subscription that had historically been renewed using identical-looking keys from the same source. The eventual answer from Microsoft was reasonable, but it took over a week, multiple escalations, and considerable investigation to determine that the behavior was actually expected. Question for the community Has anyone else encountered this recently with: Microsoft 365 Business Standard eCompany Store purchases MOSA subscriptions Retail/prepaid product-key renewals I'm particularly interested in whether others have seen this offer-compatibility issue and whether future renewals of the newly created subscription behave normally. Thanks!
Microsoft 365 Setup and Nonprofit Support – Volunteer Assisting UK Nonprofit Organisation
Dear Microsoft Support Team, I am a volunteer supporting a UK-based nonprofit organisation with its IT and Microsoft 365 setup. The organisation would like to establish a Microsoft 365 environment and, if eligible, take advantage of the Microsoft for Nonprofits grants or discounted licensing. I would like to work with Microsoft Support to ensure that the organisation is registered correctly and that the Microsoft 365 tenant is established in the nonprofit organisation's own name and under its ownership. I am providing technical assistance as a volunteer and am not the owner of the organisation. Could you please advise us on the following: What are the eligibility requirements for this UK-based nonprofit organisation? What documentation does the organisation need to provide for nonprofit validation? Should the organisation create a new Microsoft 365 tenant, or does it need to register an existing tenant? What Microsoft 365 nonprofit grants or discounted plans are currently available to the organisation? Which licences can be provided through a nonprofit grant and which would require payment? Are there specific Microsoft 365 offers available for volunteers supporting the organisation? Can I, as a volunteer, assist with the Microsoft 365 technical configuration? What is the recommended way for the organisation to provide me with appropriate administrative access while retaining ownership and control of the tenant? Can Microsoft Support work with me as the technical volunteer while the authorised representative of the nonprofit remains the account owner? Are there any costs associated with Microsoft Support, tenant creation, nonprofit registration, or Microsoft 365 setup? What DNS/domain information will be required to configure the organization’s email? What security configuration does Microsoft recommend for the initial setup, particularly MFA and administrator accounts? Organization information Legal organization name: ADAM SMITH GLOBAL FOUNDATION UK charity/nonprofit registration number: SC042981 Organization website: https://www.adamsmithglobalfoundation.com/ Organization domain: http://adamsmithglobal.org/ Number of users/staff: 3 Number of volunteers requiring access: 7 Existing Microsoft 365 tenant: NO Existing Microsoft subscription: NONE Authorized organization contact: Justyna Majewska Organization contact email: mailto:email address removed for privacy reasons, mailto:email address removed for privacy reasons My details Name: Lagna Ray Role: Volunteer / Technical Volunteer Relationship to organisation: Volunteer providing IT support Email: email address removed for privacy reasons Telephone: +447459740743 We would like to ensure that the Microsoft 365 tenant, nonprofit benefits, domain and subscriptions remain under the ownership and control of the nonprofit organisation, while I assist with the technical implementation. Please advise us on the correct registration and support process and let us know whether an authorised representative of the organisation needs to initiate or approve the request. Kind regards, LAGNA RAY Volunteer / Technical SupportI built a free, open-source M365 security assessment tool - looking for feedback
I work as an IT consultant, and a good chunk of my time is spent assessing Microsoft 365 environments for small and mid-sized businesses. Every engagement started the same way: connect to five different PowerShell modules, run dozens of commands across Entra ID, Exchange Online, Defender, SharePoint, and Teams, manually compare each setting against CIS benchmarks, then spend hours assembling everything into a report the client could actually read. The tools that automate this either cost thousands per year, require standing up Azure infrastructure just to run, or only cover one service area. I wanted something simpler: one command that connects, assesses, and produces a client-ready deliverable. So I built it. What M365 Assess does https://github.com/Daren9m/M365-Assess is a PowerShell-based security assessment tool that runs against a Microsoft 365 tenant and produces a comprehensive set of reports. Here is what you get from a single run: 57 automated security checks aligned to the CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark v6.0.1, covering Entra ID, Exchange Online, Defender for Office 365, SharePoint Online, and Teams 12 compliance frameworks mapped simultaneously -- every finding is cross-referenced against NIST 800-53, NIST CSF 2.0, ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS v4.0.1, CMMC 2.0, CISA SCuBA, and DISA STIG (plus CIS profiles for E3 L1/L2 and E5 L1/L2) 20+ CSV exports covering users, mailboxes, MFA status, admin roles, conditional access policies, mail flow rules, device compliance, and more A self-contained HTML report with an executive summary, severity badges, sortable tables, and a compliance overview dashboard -- no external dependencies, fully base64-encoded, just open it in any browser or email it directly The entire assessment is read-only. It never modifies tenant settings. Only Get-* cmdlets are used. A few things I'm proud of Real-time progress in the console. As the assessment runs, you see each check complete with live status indicators and timing. No staring at a blank terminal wondering if it hung. The HTML report is a single file. Logos, backgrounds, fonts -- everything is embedded. You can email the report as an attachment and it renders perfectly. It supports dark mode (auto-detects system preference), and all tables are sortable by clicking column headers. Compliance framework mapping. This was the feature that took the most work. The compliance overview shows coverage percentages across all 12 frameworks, with drill-down to individual controls. Each finding links back to its CIS control ID and maps to every applicable framework control. Pass/Fail detail tables. Each security check shows the CIS control reference, what was checked, what the expected value is, what the actual value is, and a clear Pass/Fail/Warning status. Findings include remediation descriptions to help prioritize fixes. Quick start If you want to try it out, it takes about 5 minutes to get running: # Install prerequisites (if you don't have them already) Install-Module Microsoft.Graph, ExchangeOnlineManagement -Scope CurrentUser Clone and run git clone https://github.com/Daren9m/M365-Assess.git cd M365-Assess .\Invoke-M365Assessment.ps1 The interactive wizard walks you through selecting assessment sections, entering your tenant ID, and choosing an authentication method (interactive browser login, certificate-based, or pre-existing connections). Results land in a timestamped folder with all CSVs and the HTML report. Requires PowerShell 7.x and runs on Windows (macOS and Linux are experimental -- I would love help testing those platforms). Cloud support M365 Assess works with: Commercial (global) tenants GCC, GCC High, and DoD environments If you work in government cloud, the tool handles the different endpoint URIs automatically. What is next This is actively maintained and I have a roadmap of improvements: More automated checks -- 140 CIS v6.0.1 controls are tracked in the registry, with 57 automated today. Expanding coverage is the top priority. Remediation commands -- PowerShell snippets and portal steps for each finding, so you can fix issues directly from the report. XLSX compliance matrix -- A spreadsheet export for audit teams who need to work in Excel. Standalone report regeneration -- Re-run the report from existing CSV data without re-assessing the tenant. I would love your feedback I have been building this for my own consulting work, but I think it could be useful to the broader community. If you try it, I would genuinely appreciate hearing: What checks should I prioritize next? Which security controls matter most in your environment? What compliance frameworks are most requested by your clients or auditors? How does the report land with non-technical stakeholders? Is the executive summary useful, or does it need work? macOS/Linux users -- does it run? What breaks? I have tested it on macOS, but not extensively. Bug reports, feature requests, and contributions are all welcome on GitHub. Repository: https://github.com/Daren9m/M365-Assess License: MIT (free for commercial and personal use) Runtime: PowerShell 7.x Thanks for reading. Happy to answer any questions in the comments.
Aucun accès au compte administrateur général, authentification MFA hors service
Bonjour, C'est un SOS que j'écris ici : je suis administratrice générale et la seule personne de ce compte Microsoft 365. Depuis un changement de téléphone, l'authentification MFA ne fonctionne plus : j'ai supprimé mon compte Microsoft dans l'application Authenticator sur mon ancien téléphone, puis ai téléchargé l'app sur mon nouveau. Impossible de m'enregistrer sur mon nouveau téléphone ni de retrouver l’authentification sur l'ancien : cela crée une boucle infinie de demande de code Authenticator auquel je n'ai plus accès. Aujourd'hui je n'ai plus du tout accès à mon compte : j'ai dû me connecter ici avec mon adresse personnelle pour accéder au forum. Microsoft est mon outil de travail, principalement pour l'usage de Copilot Pro, car je suis formatrice à Copilot Pro (et donc, promotrice des services Microsoft !!) J'ai tenté plusieurs fois d'appeler le service téléphonique, c'est une IA qui décroche, or son niveau de qualité de service client est déplorable, je ne m'étendrais pas ici, mais c'est une honte pour Microsoft d'un point de vue expérience utilisateur et IA... Mon ticket est existant mais je n'ai eu aucun retour, pas même le mail promis par l'IA téléphonique, qui devait sur l'adresse de secours fournie pendant le 1er échange téléphonique. En bref, je tourne en rond et n'ai aucun recours, donc je sollicite ici s'il vous plaît, s'il vous plaît, le modérateur du forum qui pourrait faire remonter mon ticket au service client ? Mon numéro de ticket : 2609 3014 2000 0444 Merci infiniment
Changing Microsoft 365 billing frequency from monthly to yearly unexpectedly increased the price
Hello everyone, I would like to raise an issue with Microsoft 365 Business Standard that I find very difficult to understand and even harder to explain to my customer. I manage two Microsoft 365 Business Standard licenses for a customer. The pricing history was as follows: Until May 2026: €23.40/month total for 2 users From June 2026: €21.66/month total for 2 users This means the annual cost at the latest monthly rate was €259.92/year On September 28, 2026, I changed only the billing frequency from monthly to yearly. During this process, I was not shown any clear warning that the actual subscription price would increase. After the change, Microsoft created a new annual subscription with: €145.56 per user/year €291.12/year for 2 users So simply changing from monthly billing to yearly billing increased the annual subscription price from the equivalent of €259.92 to €291.12. This is particularly confusing because the Microsoft website normally presents annual billing as the cheaper option. I contacted Microsoft Support today. According to the support agent: this behavior is the same worldwide the billing change cannot be reverted the agent cannot revert it it cannot be escalated to a supervisor who could revert it there is apparently no email address or written complaint channel where I can formally dispute the change What concerns me most is not only the price increase itself, but the fact that I was apparently moved to a higher price simply by changing the billing frequency, without a clear indication during the process that the subscription price itself would change. I now also have to explain to my customer why their Microsoft 365 costs suddenly increased, even though no additional licenses or services were requested. From my perspective, changing how often a subscription is billed should not silently result in a different commercial price without a very clear confirmation beforehand. Has anyone else experienced this? I would especially like to know: Is this expected Microsoft behavior? Why does changing the billing frequency trigger a new, higher price? Is there any official escalation or written complaint process for Microsoft 365 billing issues? Is there really no way to revert such a billing-frequency change shortly after it was made? I would appreciate clarification from Microsoft, because at the moment this leaves both the reseller/admin and the customer in a very poor position. RegardsMC1269241 - Can't turn off antropic for agentmode
Hi, I’m trying to figure out how to turn off the new feature where Anthropic is enabled by default for everyone in the EU for agent mode in excel and powerpoint, as described in the Message Center news in the title. It is not possible to press Save when you have unchecked the setting unless you also consent to the terms of use, it is greyed out. Since we want the feature turned off, we do not want to agree to any terms of use. Has anyone found a solution? This seems to be misconfigured.Microsoft goofed: Group Policy Office ADMX/ADML Problem
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49030 That's the link MS gives to download the Office group Policy files. Everything works until you open GP and all the policies are in German. Yes, I selected ENGLISH (it was the only option). No, I can't speak German - wish I could. I can't find these files anywhere else. PLEASE HELP. Azure Server 2022 Datacenter - need latest Microsoft Office 365 ADMX/ADML files (which may still be the Office 2016 ones, nice job keeping up with the times, Microsoft).Add-in not working in EXCEL 2024 HOME SUBSCRIPTION.
I have office home 2024 subscription. Recently, when I try to add an add-in from the add-in tab in excel it shows error. It was working fine. I had python and some other add-ins through the add-in menu. Can somebody help? I have tried all methods suggested by AI tools.MS support "unable to reach you loop" for locating only GA account.
For 5 day in a row I've received this response to my support case "I am writing this email in reference to case ID 2609070010000261. I was unable to reach you at your contact phone number provided. Please let me know the best time frame and phone number to call you back by replying to this email. " I do not have any missed calls on my phone, I have provided an alternative number, I have stated what I'm looking for in the email response, I have tried calling the number in the email but get to a " provide an update online " and hung up prompt. I have a tenant Ive paid for. I'm trying to attach a domain that is my mostly unique last name to it that I forgot I had on another tenant ( that wasn't paid for yet and has my first name last name) and I dont know the GA username on the tenant, I've tried every iteration I can think of for a username. I'd just love for a password reset email be sent from that tenant and I think I would get the email, reset it, release the domain, and move on. however I dont see that tenant's onmicrosoft url in any of my emails either if that's a possible secondary issue. If anyone has suggestions for getting into the tenant or getting something more than " unable to reach you" I'd greatly appreciate it!
