family subscription

Hi, Evan K

This usually happens when the invite link opens the wrong Microsoft account session, or the family/share record is stuck between “joined family” and “subscription shared.” Microsoft’s sharing flow requires the invitee to accept the invite and join the family group before the subscription benefits can be assigned.

Besides the solutions provided by the Q&A Assist, here are some suggestions you can try:

First, don’t use the button in the email. Open https://family.microsoft.com directly in a private/incognito browser window, sign in with the invited account, and see if there is a pending family invitation banner there. It is suggested that accepting from the Family page can work when the email “Get started” link keeps failing or looping.

If the invitee already appears in the family group, ask the subscription owner to check whether the person appears twice, once as a normal member and once as pending. If yes, it is recommended that the owner removes the existing non-pending entry, then the invitee tries accepting the pending invitation again. This can clear a broken duplicate family record.

Also check whether the invited account still has an active Microsoft 365 Personal subscription, even if it was cancelled but has not fully expired yet. It is suggested that this can block the Family share from completing properly, so the user may need to let that subscription fully expire first, or contact Microsoft support to remove the conflict.

Please be advised that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators and contributors, including external Microsoft employees, are not allowed to directly interfere with Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited solely to providing technical guidance on reported incidents, requests, or ideas.   

Lastly, if the email address is a work/school address, try using a normal personal Microsoft account instead, such as Outlook.com/Hotmail. Microsoft 365 Family sharing is meant for personal Microsoft accounts, and mixed work/personal sign-ins can easily send the link into the wrong account session.

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

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