Hardware & Software

MSU provides Microsoft licenses for departmental use under an Enrollment for Education Solution (EES). The annual licensing agreement covers departments and the MSU community.

Current Michigan State University students are provided Spartan 365 email and related Office 365 software with OneDrive, including Microsoft Office desktop applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook).  Information on the Office 365 service is provided at: Technology at MSU – SPARTAN 365: SERVICE OFFERING AND SUPPORT | Michigan State University

Obtaining Office 365 A3 software

Individual MSU students, faculty, researchers and staff can follow the below steps to install up to 5 copies of the Office 365 Pro Plus Software (A3) on their departmental or personally owned machines.

Note: MSU faculty, researchers, and staff should contact their local IT before installing any software on a departmentally owned machine. These licenses are intended for use in activities related to MSU working, teaching, and learning.

Office 365 A3 for Windows and Mac, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. Each student can download Office 365 A3 on up to five computers (Windows or Apple iOS), five tablets (Windows, Apple iOS, and/or Android), and five smartphones.

1. Visit spartan365.msu.edu.
2. Login using MSU NetID and new password credentials.
3. Click on “Install and More” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
4. Follow the prompts on the screen to download and install Office 365 A3.

Temporary, On-Call or No Pay individuals

Temporary, On-Call or No Pay individuals do not receive Office 365 A3 by default, but do receive an A1 (web) license. Departments, however, can purchase an annual subscription for these individuals from the MSU Tech Store website.

*On-call staff with the following job titles will receive access to Microsoft Office application downloads: Clerical Aide, Professional Aide, Technical Aide, Consultant, and Extension Program Worker.

Department Use

All MSU departments may also use licenses on departmentally owned machines for:

• Office 2019 as needed until the newest version can be installed (includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access on PC version, Publisher on PC version)
• Windows OS Upgrades (There must be a current Windows OS on your system to use the upgrade license. Can upgrade a Home version to Pro or Enterprise.)
• Windows Server

Licenses are based on the current version of the software, though it’s possible to downgrade to a previous version.

NOTE: It’s important to keep software up to date so security issues inherent with outdated software or systems aren’t exploited. Read more on SecureIT about safeguarding your devices and systems. Also read through the checklists for setting up and patching systems and servers.

Obtaining Other Software

• To obtain software:
  • Departments
    • Open a Service Desk ticket addressed to the ITS Client Engineering team.
  • Individuals
    • Licenses for individual users can be purchased through the MSU Technology Store.
    • A free copy of Windows 10 education is available for students at no cost from onthehub.com. This software is valid for the life of the computer.

Departments only need to download the media once for use with all licenses ordered within their unit. Faculty and staff should contact their main IT department before ordering media as they may already have a copy of the software for use.

All licenses are on an annual subscription for the life of this MSU agreement; they are not perpetual.

Licenses are based on the current version of the software, though it’s possible to downgrade to a previous version.

NOTE: It’s important to keep software up to date so security issues inherent with outdated software or systems aren’t exploited. Read more on SecureIT about safeguarding your devices and systems. Also read through the checklists for setting up and patching systems and servers.

For server licenses, all versions (Data Center, Enterprise, Standard) may be used. It is also possible to downgrade to a previous version.