Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office

Step 1: Sign in with the right account

Please try signing in using all your personal email addresses in case you bought Office using a different email address. If you're at work or school, you may need to log in using your work or school account instead of your personal email account.

To check if your Microsoft account is associated with Office, sign in to Subscriptions. Your Office product or Microsoft 365 subscription should be listed there. If it's not, your email address won't work for signing in to Office.

Step 2: Check for multiple copies of Office

Activation can fail if you have multiple copies of Office installed. Let's uninstall any versions of Office you aren't using before we continue to troubleshoot.

1. Open Control Panel using the steps below for your operating system.

   •  Windows 11 or  Windows 10:  On the Windows task bar, type Control Panel in the Type here to search box, select Control Panel in the search results, and then select Programs and Features.

   • Windows 8.1 or Windows 8: Right-click the Start button (lower-left corner), select Control Panel, and then select Programs and Features.

   • Windows 7:  Select > Control Panel > Uninstall a program.

2. In the Search Programs and Features box (upper-right corner) of Programs and Features, search for the word office.

   You might see multiple versions installed, like this:

   

   If more than one version appears, right-click the version you aren't using and select Uninstall.

   If only one version is listed, you can go to Step 3: Check your Microsoft 365 subscription status.

3. When the uninstall is finished, restart your computer.

4. Open an Office app and sign in, if prompted.

5. If Office still won't activate, try running an online repair as described in Repair an Office application to fix up the remaining install of Office. If you still can't activate, proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Check your Microsoft 365 subscription status

If you have a Microsoft 365 for home subscription, let's make sure it's still active and renew your subscription, if necessary.

If you don't have Microsoft 365, you can skip to Step 4: Troubleshoot Office activation.

1. Close all Office apps.

2. Go to your Subscriptions page.

3. If prompted, choose Sign in and enter the Microsoft account email and password associated with your Microsoft 365 subscription.

4. Review the details under the Subscriptions heading or Cancelled subscriptions heading.

   

5. If your subscription has expired, you can renew it by following the steps in Renew Microsoft 365 Family.

6. After you renew your subscription, you can restart your Office apps as needed. If Office still won't activate, continue to the next step

Step 4: Troubleshoot Office activation

Select your version of Office for troubleshooting steps:

Microsoft 365

Office 2024, Office 2021, Office 2019 and Office 2016

Microsoft 365: Use the​​​​​​​ Microsoft 365 activation troubleshooter

The Microsoft 365 activation troubleshooter runs on Windows PCs and can help you identify and fix activation issues with Microsoft 365.

1. Select the button below to start the Microsoft 365 activation troubleshooter.

   Start

2. Click Open if you get a pop-up window indicating This site is trying to open Get Help.

3. Follow the prompts to troubleshoot your Office activation issue.

If Office still won't activate after you run the troubleshooter, you can Fix Unlicensed Product errors yourself.

Fix Unlicensed Product errors yourself

If you've tried the earlier troubleshooting steps and Office is still unlicensed, you can troubleshoot activation failures yourself.

Check your computer's date, time, and time zone

If these settings aren't correct, Office activation might fail. Follow the steps below for your operating system.

 Windows 11  or  Windows 10 

1. Close all Office apps.

2. In the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, select the date or time.

3. Select Date and time settings.

4. Select Set time automatically and, if shown, Set time zone automatically. If you don't have the option to set the time zone automatically, make sure your local time zone is shown in Time zone.

5. Restart any Office app.

 Windows 8.1  or  Windows 8

1. Close all Office apps.

2. In the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, select the date or time.

3. Select Change date and time settings.

4. If the date or time is wrong, select Change date and time and correct the date and time settings.

5. If the time zone is wrong, select Change time zone and select your local time zone.

6. Restart any Office app.

Windows 7

1. Close all Office apps.

2. In the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, select the date or time.

3. Select Change date and time settings.

4. If the date or time is wrong, select Change date and time and correct the date and time settings.

5. If the time zone is wrong, select Change time zone and select your local time zone.

6. Restart any Office app.

Run Office as administrator

Running Office as administrator helps fix permission issues that might cause Office activation to fail. Follow the steps below for your operating system.

 Windows 11  and  Windows 10

1. Close all Office apps.

2. Press the Start button in the lower-left corner of your screen.

3. Type an application name, like Word. The Word program icon appears in the search results.

4. Right-click the Word icon, and select Run as administrator.

5. Select Yes to allow Office to run as administrator.

 Windows 8.1

1. Close all Office apps.

2. In Windows 8.1, right-click the Start button in the lower-left corner of your screen, and then select Search.

3. Type an application name, like Word. The Word program icon appears in the search results.

4. Right-click the Word icon, and select Run as administrator.

5. Select Yes to allow Office to run as administrator.

Windows 8

1. Close all Office apps.

2. In Windows 8, move your mouse to the upper-right corner of your screen to open the charms bar, and then select the Search icon.

3. Type an application name, like Word. The Word program icon appears in the search results.

4. Right-click the Word icon, and select Run as administrator.

5. Select Yes to allow Office to run as administrator.

Windows 7

1. Close all Office apps.

2. Press the Start button in the lower-left corner of your screen.

3. In the Search programs and files box, type an application name, like Word. The Word program icon appears in the search results.

4. Right-click the Excel icon, and select Run as administrator.

5. If prompted, select Yes to allow Office to run as administrator.

Update Office

The latest Office updates might contain fixes to activation issues. To learn how to update Office, see Install Office updates.

Check your firewall

If you're using a firewall from another manufacturer, visit the manufacturer's website for information about how to temporarily disable the firewall. For Windows Firewall, please see below.

Windows 11 and Windows 10

• Please go to Turn Windows Firewall on or off.

Windows 8.1 and 7

• Please scroll to Turn Windows Firewall on or off in Protect my PC from viruses.

Check your antivirus software

For information about how to turn off your antivirus software, check your antivirus manufacturer's website. Uninstalling your antivirus software may also help. Don't forget to reinstall it after Office is finished installing and if you turned it off, be sure to turn it on again.

If you're not sure which antivirus software you have, use the following instructions to get to Control Panel to find the name of your antivirus software.

Check your proxy settings

If you use your device both at home and at work, try turning off the proxy settings in Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer before you install Microsoft 365. If you’re using a different browser, check their help to find out how to turn off proxy settings.

Microsoft Edge

1. Click the Start button (lower-left corner), and choose Settings.

2. Select Network & Internet, go to the bottom of the selections on the left side, and click Proxy.

3. In Automatic proxy setup, automatically detect settings or use setup script, by sliding to On or Off.

4. In Manual proxy setup, you can choose to use a proxy server. Generally, it will be off and if you slide it to On, be sure to select Save. And if it was off by default before you turned it on, be sure to slide back to Off when you've finished using it.

Internet Explorer 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools (upper-right corner) > Internet options.

2. Click the Connections tab, and then click the LAN settings button.

3. Under Proxy server, clear the option "Use a proxy server for your LAN (These settings will not apply to dial-up or VPN connections)."

4. Click Apply and OK to save changes. Restart your computer.

Still need help? Contact Support

If you’ve tried everything in this article and still need help, you can contact Office support.

For more information on updating licenses.