It doesn't mention the rather hard to describe "online phone activation". This has worked for me (for other MS products) when the normal activation wouldn't.

It doesn't mention the rather hard to describe "online phone activation". This has worked for me (for other MS products) when the normal activation wouldn't. This website guides you through the process: https://getcid.info/ https://getcid.info/ It's basically just a bit more friendly UI to generate all the URL params for this site. An example: https://microsoft.gointeract.io/interact/index?interaction=1461173234028-3884f8602eccbe259104553afa8415434b4581-05d1&accountId=microsoft&loadFrom=CDN&appkey=196de13c-e946-4531-98f6-2719ec8405ce&Language=English&name=pana&CountryCode=en-US&Click%20To%20Call%20Caller%20Id=+17142064889&startedFromSmsToken=3jUenpr&dnis=26&token=0Yr8Nd https://microsoft.gointeract.io/interact/index?interaction=1... Edit: The gointeract.io url is controlled by Microsoft, despite how shady it looks. From what I can tell, the getcid.info site is a 3rd party, so take whatever caution you believe you need to there...though it is an easier UI.