Administering Volume Licensing Frequently Asked Questions

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for managing volume licensing agreements are divided into logical topics to help you quickly find answers to your questions.

All VLSC features now in Microsoft 365 admin center

  • Microsoft has transitioned all volume licensing administration capabilities previously available in the VLSC to Microsoft 365 admin center.
  • Volume licensing agreements for GCC High and DoD are administered in separate portals, mentioned below.

Go to Microsoft 365 admin center > Billing > Your products > Volume licensing for the following features.

  • Downloads & Keys under Products and Services
  • License Summary - under "Contracts"
  • Relationship Summary - included in "Contracts"
  • Open program Online Service Activation
  • Enterprise program Online Subscription Reservation
  • Manage Role assignments - previously Manage users

[!Note] If Billing does not display in your Microsoft 365 admin center menu by default, click on Show all in bottom left and "pin" Billing to your menu.

Volume licensing

What are the different sites where volume licensing agreements administered?

  • Public cloud* users manage volume licensing in Microsoft 365 admin center *includes commercial users and standard Governemnt Community Cloud (GCC)
  • For Government Community Cloud High volume licensing, go to GCCH
  • For US Dept of Defense cloud volume licensing, go to DoD

How do I get support for volume licensing in Microsoft 365 admin center?

For support accessing or using the VL features in Microsoft 365 admin center, please contact our Volume Licensing Service team available at Contact Us.

Note, responses to web form may take up to 24 hours; For urgent issues, please create a support case online and then phone (where available) and provide the support case number.

Do VL users need to be added as Microsoft 365 admin center administrators?

No. Global admins in an organization's AAD tenant have no default responsibility to - or systematic ability to - manage VL users or provide access to volume licensing in Microsoft 365 admin center.

VL users do not require any Microsoft 365 admin center role (such as global admin or billing admin) and do not see any non-VL information in Microsoft 365 admin center, such as billing information, AAD user management, or licenses not originating from volume licensing purchases.

Volume licensing administrators are responsible for all volume licensing user role and permissions assignment.

Do VL users see Microsoft 365 admin center billing information?

No. VL users only see information in the volume licensing tab which is listed under the Billing menu in Microsoft 365 admin center.

They do not see any other data that Billing Admins in the admin center can see, such as (non-volume licensing) Licenses, Bills and Payments or Billing Accounts, Payment methods or Billing notifications.

Will my old VLSC Log In ID work for VL in Microsoft 365 admin center?

VLSC users who signed in to VLSC with a managed work or school account (WSA) should be able to use that same Log In ID for Microsoft 365 admin center.

VLSC users who did not upgrade their log In ID from a Microsoft Account, or an unmanaged work or school account, (both of which became obsolete for VLSC by December 2022) will not be able to sign in.

Volume licensing users who find themselves unable to log into Microsoft admin center > Your Products > Volume Licensing should ask an an active administrator to add them as a user.

Alternatively, if there is no active administrator available, users will need to contact Microsoft volume licensing support. See below for required information.

What do VL administrators need to do to ensure VL users can access VL information in Microsoft 365 admin center?

Most customers do not need to do anything different. VL administrators have the same VL permissions and roles in Microsoft 365 admin center as they had on the VLSC.

Admins who are missing some users or license IDs they were expecting should sync permissions to try resolve any discrepanices. Navigate to Billing > Products > Volume Licensing>Preferences> Edit preferences (if available). Select Sync Permissions.

In rare cases where user accounts were not migrated from VLSC to Microsoft 365 admin center, the volume licensing admins can simply add the user via the Manage Role assignment function.

Are volume licensing roles the same in Microsoft 365 admin center?

Some role names are slightly different from the VLSC, but are easily recongnizable. The permissions for all roles remains the same, with one exception.

Online Subscription Manager (OSM) role now automatically has permission to manage online services reseervation, without needing to the specifically selected.

Agreement administrators who prefer not to allow users be able to place Reservations can go to Manage Role Assignment to change the users' role from OSM to Licensing Info Viewer.

Who can view VL information in Microsoft 365 admin center?

To view volume licensing in the Microsoft 365 admin center you must have registered permissions to a license ID (volume licensing agreement or enrolment).

[!NOTE]

M365 admin center administrators who do not also have VLSC permissions do NOT have access to VL features on M365 admin center. It is up to the agreement administstator to add any user, including global administrators, who may want access to specific license IDs.

Do GCC High and DoD volume licensing agreements remain in the VLSC?

No. While we left the transition of GCC High and DoD agreements to last, all volume licensing administration tasks for those agreement types previously done in VLSC are now be available to GCC High and DoD admin centers.

Important - Once activated, any licensed services provision to the GCC High M365 admin center (not the “public cloud” M365 admin center).

  • For Government Community Cloud High volume licensing, go to GCCH
  • For US Dept of Defense cloud volume licensing, go to DoD

Users who access both public cloud and GCC High clouds need a separate ID for the GCC High admin center (just as they had separate IDs for VLSC and GCC High admin center, previously).

Give Feedback

We know that sometimes you may want to share general feedback or observations that are not necessarily issues you need support assistance with.

To share feedback or suggestions with our product development team about the Microsoft 365 admin center volume license experience, please click the Give Feedback button in the bottom right of the screen.

Give feedback