Request to Reset / Transfer Office License Activation

Hi, ITM

This usually means the license is still tied to the original Microsoft account, or the new PC is picking up the wrong Office install/license. For one-time Office, it can also happen if the old copy was OEM or otherwise not transferable.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

Make sure they’re signing in with the exact Microsoft account that originally redeemed the license, then install from Services & subscriptions instead of entering the old key again.

If it’s Microsoft 365, it is recommended that they sign out of Office remotely from the account/devices page, since uninstalling alone may not free the activation right away.

Also check the new PC for multiple Office versions, remove any extra one, restart, and try again. If needed, run an Online Repair on the remaining install.

If the activation window shows "contact support to transfer this license to this device”, use that option directly.

Thank you for your patience in reading, I hope this information has been helpful to you. 

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For Microsoft 365 Apps and similar subscription-based Office products, the activation state is controlled locally on the device and in the Microsoft 365 service. When a device has already been used for activation, the local activation and cached account data must be fully cleared so the same license can be used again on another device.

On the old device, in addition to uninstalling Office and removing the product key, the activation state should be reset using the documented process. The supported options are:

1. Use the Enterprise version of Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant (recommended for multiple or remote devices) to reset the activation state.
2. Or, perform the manual reset of the activation state on the device where Office was previously activated:
   • Delete the vNext and Shared Computer Activation license token folders, if present:
     • %localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\Licenses (Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise version 1909 or later)
     • %localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Licensing
   • Remove any remaining legacy licenses with ospp.vbs from an elevated Command Prompt, after changing to the correct Office16 folder (for example C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16 or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16), by running:
     • cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus to list installed product keys.
     • cscript ospp.vbs /unpkey:<last 5 characters of product key> for each key shown, until all are removed.
   • Delete the Office licensing and identity registry keys under the user profile:
     • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Licensing
     • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity
   • If Shared Computer Activation is enabled, also remove the Identity key under HKEY_USERS\<user SID>\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common.
   • Remove any Office-related credentials from Control Panel > Credential Manager > Windows Credentials.

After this reset, Office on that device is returned to a clean state and no longer holds an activation. The license can then be used to activate Office on another device, provided the license terms allow installation on that additional device.

If the product is using device-based licensing, the same reset of the activation state is required before the device can transition to a different license mode or device. After resetting, confirm activation on the new device by running vnextdiag.ps1 -action list from the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16 (or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16) folder to verify that the product shows as Licensed under the correct account or device-based license.

If, after performing the documented reset on the old device, the portal or installer still reports that the license is in use on another device, the next step is to work with the appropriate support channel (for example, Microsoft 365 admin center support for business subscriptions) so that the license assignment can be reviewed and, if necessary, re-applied to the user or device.

References:

• Reset activation state for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
• Troubleshooting device-based licensing for Microsoft 365 Apps
• Check the license and activation status for Microsoft 365 Apps
• Microsoft 365 Apps activation error: "Product deactivated"
• Microsoft 365 Apps activation error: "The products we found in your account can't be used to activate"
• "Sorry, we can't connect to your account." error when you activate Office from Microsoft 365