O365 on RDSH Shared Device Licensing not activating

[FLPhoenix]

We're running Server 2019 RDSH and running the current channel for O365. Running as an application, I cannot get office to activate for a user, it just never brings up the login prompt. But when signing in via RDP, it works without any issues.

We use ADFS and have SSO configured to O365. When launching as an app, it will prompt for the username but then the box goes away and it pretty much shows that you are signed in and it says that it is unlicensed and doesn't allow connecting to OneDrive. Not sure why the experience is different based on a full RDP session versus running as an application.

This used to work in the past but unfortunately I don't know if it was prior to us upgrading from 2016 or if it was after that. I typically don't maintain the image so not sure when it broke exactly. Still troubleshooting it but I figured I would post this to see if anyone else experienced this already. Not sure if it is another application we have on the server or if it is just a bug in our current template. Will start next with a clean 2019 image.

[nburton935]

Curious - if you publish a full server desktop, and not just the app, does it still happen when launching the app within the desktop session?

[FLPhoenix]

Sorry for my delayed response, I've had too many things going on at once. It does work as a desktop using the same server as a desktop versus an app.

To give a bit more information. I created a new farm with a single server using the same image as the production farm but only a single server. I created an app from that and also a desktop pool. If I sign in launching word or any other office program as an app, it prompts me to sign in by asking for my email address. Then it never brings up the ADFS prompt, it just displays my name in the upper right but says it is not licensed. If I sign in as a desktop, it prompts me, then takes me to ADFS to authenticate and works as expected. Once I sign out and then launch as an app on that same RDSH server, it still has my license that I set up when I signed into the RDSH farm as a desktop.

[FLPhoenix]

After some additional testing I created a manual RDS farm on Server 2019 fully updated with current updates and installed the RDS role. I installed Horizon Agent 7.12 and created a new farm. I installed Office365 using the below configuration file and also added word as an application. Upon launching word and typing in my email address in the prompt for word at initial launch, it freezes and I can't click on anything.

So this seems that maybe it is a bug with 7.12. Next test is I will uninstall the 7.12 agent and try the 7.11 agent. I forget the version we are using when we originally tested and it was working but that also might of been prior to us upgrading to server 2019.

I'd be curios to know if anyone else is using Server 2019 and O365 Shared Device Licensing an what version they are using.

Configuration.XML

<Configuration ID="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx">

  <Add OfficeClientEdition="64" Channel="Monthly" ForceUpgrade="TRUE">

    <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">

      <Language ID="MatchOS" />

      <ExcludeApp ID="Groove" />

      <ExcludeApp ID="OneDrive" />

    </Product>

    <Product ID="VisioPro2019Volume" PIDKEY="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx">

      <Language ID="MatchOS" />

      <ExcludeApp ID="Groove" />

      <ExcludeApp ID="OneDrive" />

    </Product>

    <Product ID="ProjectPro2019Volume" PIDKEY="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx">

      <Language ID="MatchOS" />

      <ExcludeApp ID="Groove" />

      <ExcludeApp ID="OneDrive" />

    </Product>

  </Add>

  <Property Name="SharedComputerLicensing" Value="1" />

  <Property Name="PinIconsToTaskbar" Value="TRUE" />

  <Property Name="SCLCacheOverride" Value="1" />

  <Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="FALSE" />

  <Property Name="SCLCacheOverrideDirectory" Value="%localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Licensing" />

  <Updates Enabled="TRUE" />

  <RemoveMSI />

  <AppSettings>

    <Setup Name="Company" Value="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" />

  </AppSettings>

  <Display Level="Full" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />

  <Logging Level="Off" />

</Configuration>

[FLPhoenix]

Tested Horizon Agent 7.11 and had the same issue.

[FLPhoenix]

Found this to be a known issue: VMware Knowledge Base