Microsoft Office 365 / Office 2013 Activation Problems

While Office 2013 has a cloud storage component (today called Skydrive), there are times that subscription payers may receive an error that says
"Sorry, we are having temporary server issues."
Additionally, using a trial version again, on a machine that has experienced this issue, COULD give you a warning that you need to ACTIVATE, but you still cannot activate.

This problem is associated with subscription users of the Office 2013 Home Premium or Office 365 Home Premium.

This product has very poor error messages and informational messages that do not represent the true problem.  Yet, solution to this problem is simple and time consuming.

You need to make sure the computer is connected to a FAST internet connection. With a FAST Internet connection, the removal and installation of this product is time consuming. Expect 30 minutes to remove, and over 45 minutes to install.
You will also need to make sure you are connected to a power line, and that your control panel power saving status (sleep or hybernate) is basically off for non-battery settings.

1. Access your subscription account webpage.

2. Close the current instance of all Office 2013, or Office 365 programs, and make sure the computer is not running any processes in the process tab of the task manager.

3. Go back to the webpage, which should still be logged in to the subscription account information, and go to the ACTIVATION section. DEACTIVATE the particular device that is allocated to the problematic machine.

4. From the control panel - choose the upper left pull-down and change to the option "Small Icons",  the select "Programs and Features", once the entire list displays, click ONCE on the item "Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium" and then choose the button at the top of this list "Uninstall" This will take a while.

5. Once the uninstallation is complete, you can go back to the Office 365 Subscription page, and download the installer using the green Install button. Avoid using the Trial installation download, as well as older downloads from previous attempts. The file that starts the download is very small, but the actual 'streaming' installation process will take a long time. A very long time.

Once installed, you should no longer experience the error, nor that Activation issue.
For more help on technology problems, or security concerns, review our main blog at http://menlotechnical.com/blog.