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Office 2016 loses activation after installing update KB3141505, KB3128055, KB3127907 or KB3118330

Question

Wednesday, February 15, 2017 6:34 PM | 2 votes

I am installing Office 2016 Standard Edition, volume licensing, on multiple Windows 7 computers and I came across an unusual problem. After installing Office and activating it, I ran the Microsoft updates. It started back in October of 2016 with update KB3118330. Once this update gets installed Office 2016 loses its activation and can not be activated again until the update is uninstalled. The following updates have the same effect on the Office activation, KB3127907, KB3128055 and the latest one is KB3141505. Does anyone have a solution other than hiding these updates? Thank you. 

All replies (17)

Monday, February 20, 2017 10:02 PM âś…Answered | 22 votes

here's a possible solution for you:

from a command prompt:

  1. navigate to c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16 or your equivilant
  2. execute command: cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus
  3. take note of the line "Last 5 Characters of installed product key:" for each product that is in error, you need the 5 digit value (mine kept claiming Office Home and Business was installed, not the case)
  4. execute command: cscript ospp.vbs /unpkey:XXXXX (XXXXX being the value noted in step 3, run this for each value unwanted)
  5. See if the product activation has returned to its normal state, if not activating the desired product may be necessary

Let us know if that helps you, it cleared up my problem.

Thanks

Thursday, February 16, 2017 9:13 AM

Hi,

Have you tried running a repair of your Office installation? For your convenience:

https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Repair-an-Office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b

If above doesn't work, we may also try to uninstall Office 2016 and then reinstall it to see the result. To uninstall Office 2016, please try using the easy fix tool mentioned in the following article:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Uninstall-Office-2016-Office-2013-or-Office-365-from-a-PC-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Steve Fan

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped.

If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

Monday, February 20, 2017 6:05 PM

I have the same issue, specifically KB3128055. If it's uninstalled the products report activated, it it is installed it get stuck in an activation loop.

I'm using a Surface Pro 4 with Office 2016 Standard with Volume Licensing

I have tried repairing the install.

I have tried uninstall with reinstall.

I have tried using the MS Office uninstall tool and a fresh install.

All have resulted the same activation loop once KB3128055 is installed.

Monday, February 20, 2017 6:08 PM

Hi,

Have you tried running a repair of your Office installation? For your convenience:

https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Repair-an-Office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b

If above doesn't work, we may also try to uninstall Office 2016 and then reinstall it to see the result. To uninstall Office 2016, please try using the easy fix tool mentioned in the following article:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Uninstall-Office-2016-Office-2013-or-Office-365-from-a-PC-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Steve Fan

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped.

If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

I have tried all the steps with the same result. Activation loop once KB3128055 is installed.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017 1:26 PM

Sorry for the delay in responding, I just got back to this issue. I ran the commands that JoshT76 suggested and then ran the Microsoft updates. This time Office 2016 did NOT lose its activation. Thank you.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018 4:37 PM

this helped me. Thanks!

Monday, April 9, 2018 2:16 PM

Hi,

I'm facing this issue, and ran the command but it gave me error that the file doesn't exist. Please support

Wednesday, April 18, 2018 8:06 PM

Thank you..worked perfectly!

Wednesday, August 1, 2018 7:51 PM

JoshT76's solution worked perfectly!

Wednesday, October 17, 2018 9:12 AM

Thank you so much JoshT76, your solution was a God send, this has been driving me absolutely crazy for weeks!

Friday, December 14, 2018 4:57 PM

JoshT76 you are an absolute STAR!

Thank you!

Friday, March 22, 2019 11:40 AM

Thank you JoshT76..This solution worked for me, its because my notebook has bundling trial office home and business was installed. and then i install office 2016 pro plus and activated it, after that i got windows update regarding my office 2016. after updated my office, i got notification prompt that my office license being not activate.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019 8:41 PM

thanks. it worked.

Friday, August 16, 2019 12:46 PM

I am running Office 2016 Pro Plus and I also have an O365 E3 license.  After installing Office 2016 Pro Plus I installed all Office updates. I did not have the KB updates mentioned above but some update made my office 2016 Pro Plus start asking to register my O365.

This process documented here fixed my issue.  Note: I had two keys listed one was the valid MAK key and one was an Office 16, RETAIL(Grace) channel key.  I uninstalled the Grace key and my issue was resolved.

Monday, October 7, 2019 11:10 AM

Foo-king brilliant!!  It worked, thanks!!

tip: I needed to run Command Prompt as Admin
  Start > type: "Command Prompt" > right-click > Run as Admin

Wednesday, October 30, 2019 3:28 PM

I did not have any of these KBs installed, but was still experiencing the problem on a half-dozen computers.  This cscript fixed it.  Thank you so much!!

Sunday, January 5, 2020 11:52 AM

GOOD DAY JOSHY76 THANKS A LOT. I FOLLOWED YOUR ADVICE AND MY PROBLEM RESOLVED. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!