How to fix MS Office activation 2021

To move and activate Office Home & Business 2021 on another laptop, follow these steps based on the activation and transfer guidance:

1. Install Office on the new laptop
   1. On the new laptop, sign in to the Microsoft account dashboard using the same Microsoft account that was used to redeem/associate Office Home & Business 2021.
   2. Go to the Services/Subscriptions area and locate the Office product.
   3. Select Install and complete the download and installation.
2. Activate Office on the new laptop
   1. Open an Office app (for example, Word).
   2. When prompted, sign in with the same Microsoft account associated with Office Home & Business 2021.
   3. If activation succeeds, no further action is required.
3. If activation reports that the maximum number of activations has been reached Office Home & Business 2021 is a one-time purchase that is licensed for a single computer. Moving it to another device is allowed only under the transfer terms in the Software License Terms and may require phone activation:
   1. Read the Software License Terms
      • Open an Office app on the currently installed device (if still available):
        • Go to File > Account > About program name (for example, About Excel) > View the Microsoft Software License Terms.
        • For Office 2019 and Office 2016, transfer terms are in section 3. Transfer to a Third Party. (Office 2021 follows similar one-time-purchase rules.)
      • Alternatively, view them online at the Software License Terms page.
   2. Activate by telephone on the new laptop (if prompted)
      • When activation fails due to having reached the maximum number of activations, choose the option to activate by telephone (if offered in the activation wizard) and follow the prompts.
   3. Uninstall Office from the old computer
      • After successfully activating Office on the new laptop by phone, uninstall Office from the original computer to comply with the single-computer license:
        • On the old device, remove Office via the standard uninstall process for that OS.

If activation still fails after these steps, verify that the correct Microsoft account is being used and that the Office product appears under that account’s subscriptions/services. If it does not appear there, that account is not associated with the license.

References:

• Activate Office after reinstalling or installing on a different device
• Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office