How to repair Office Activation Error?

If you see an error during Office activation, you are probably using an Unlicensed version or Non-commercial version (Unlicensed version in the top bar). These and more office activation errors which come during the activation can be resolved by following the below steps:

Step 1: Sign in to Office with the right account

If Office asks you to sign in, enter the account you used to buy Office. You’ll see “We couldn’t find any Office products” if you use the wrong address.

Try this: Sign in to Office

Step 2: Check for multiple copies of Office

You may not realize you have more than one copy installed. Having two installs can cause activation conflicts.

Try this: Check for multiple copies of Office

Step 3: Check your subscription status

If your subscription has expired, you’ll see “We couldn’t find any Office products.” Renew your subscription to use Office 365.

Try this: Check your subscription status

Step 4: Troubleshoot activation Error

If Office still won’t activate, choose your Office version for additional troubleshooting help.

Office 365

Office 2019 and Office 2016

Office 2013

Step 1: Sign in with the Correct 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 Services & subscriptions. Your Office product or Office 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 10 On the Windows 10 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 8 Right-click the Start button Windows Start button in Windows 8 and Windows 10 (lower-left corner), select Control Panel, and then select Programs and Features.
    • Windows 7 Click Start > 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:

    My computer Shows two copies of Office installed in Control PanelIf 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 Office 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 Office 365 subscription status

If you have an Office 365 for home subscription, let’s make sure it’s still active and renew your subscription, if necessary.If you don’t have Office 365, you can skip to Step 4: Troubleshoot Office activation.

  1. Close all Office apps.
  2. Go to your Services & subscriptions page.
  3. If prompted, choose Sign in and enter the Microsoft account email and password associated with your Office 365 subscription.
  4. Review the details under the Subscriptions heading or Cancelled subscriptions heading.office activation error | Office 365 subscription expired
  5. If your subscription has expired, you can renew it by following the steps in Renew Office 365 for home.
  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 Error

Select your version of Office for troubleshooting steps:Office 365

Office 2019 and Office 2016

Office 2013

Office 365: Use the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant

The Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant runs on Windows PCs and can help you identify and fix activation issues with Office 365.

  1. Select the Download button,
  2. Select your browser from the drop-down list to see how to save and then start the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant.
  3. The Application Install dialog box opens. Select Install to start the installation.
  4. The Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant opens in a new window. Select I agree to accept the Microsoft Services Agreement.
  5. Select Yes to allow the app to make changes to your device.
  6. Follow the prompts to troubleshoot your Office activation issue.

If Office still won’t activate after you run the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant, you can Fix Unlicensed Product errors yourself.

Office 2019 and Office 2016: Use the office Activation Error Troubleshooter (non-subscription Office products)

The Activation Troubleshooter runs on Windows PCs and can fix activation errors for Office Home & Student, Office Home & Business, Office Professional, and individual Office apps, like Visio, Project, Word, and Outlook.

  1. Select the Download button.
  2. Select your browser from the drop-down list to see how to save and then launch the troubleshooter.

If Office still won’t activate after you run the Activation Troubleshooter, you can Fix Unlicensed Product errors yourself.

Fix Unlicensed Product error yourself

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

If these settings aren’t correct, Office activation might fail. Follow the steps below for your operating system.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 or Windows 8.1

  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.

Tip: In Windows 7, you can synchronize your computer clock with an Internet time server to keep the computer clock up to date. To do this, select the date or time in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, and then select Change date and time settings. Select the Internet Time tab, select Change settings, select Synchronize with an Internet time server, and then select Update now.

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 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.

Repair Office licensing (applies only to Office 2013)

If you’ve tried all of the other solutions but you’re still getting prompted to activate Office 2013, uninstall your product key and then sign in to activate Office.

  1. Select this easy fix to uninstall your product key in Office 2013.
  2. At the bottom of your browser, select Open.Click Open
  3. After the easy fix tool is done, open any Office application, like Word or Excel.
  4. When you’re prompted, sign in with the email and password that are associated with Office.

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 10

Windows 8.1 and 7

have a look at 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.

Tip: Windows 10 comes with default antivirus software, Windows Defender. If you determine that you’re using it, select the Start button > Settings > Update & Security, and then select Windows Defender on the left. Slide the button to Off. Remember to turn it On again.

Take a look at 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 Office. 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 Windows Start button in Windows 8 and Windows 10 (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.

Source: Microsoft Office Support website

Conclusion:

To conclude I would like to mention that the above throubleshooting steps were quoted directly from the official troubleshoot page of Office and to know further about troubleshooting your Office Activation please visit the official support page by this link. Also office Installation is not a simple process sometimes it can be very problematic and people can usually ran into an Office Activation error without knowing the reason. The first step to activate the office is allways use the official website of office to activate your subscription which is office.com/setup

This website is only for information purpose about Microsoft Office 2019 and other versions and we do not sell or activate Office, we are helping people to understand how to use Office and How to Activate Microsoft Office 2019 and Office 365 and other versions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *