how do I transfer my office license to a new PC?

Eric Mrozinski 45 Reputation points
2025-11-30T18:37:47.4666667+00:00

My Dell PC has failed again, and I now decided to buy a PC from another brand. How do I transfer my Office Home and Business 2021 license from the Dell to my new PC?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Windows

Locked Question. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Stefan Blom 351.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2025-11-30T19:01:40.58+00:00

Uninstall Office from your old PC. On the new PC, install Office using your account at https://account.microsoft.com/services .

If you run into activation issues, you may have to contact Microsoft support.

Was this answer helpful?

1 person found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author

AI answer

2025-11-30T18:37:56.1266667+00:00

To transfer your Office Home and Business 2021 license to a new PC, you generally need to follow these steps:

  1. Deactivate the License on the Old PC: If your old Dell PC is still operational, open any Office application (like Word or Excel), go to File > Account, and look for an option to deactivate or sign out of your Microsoft account. This step is important to free up the license for use on the new PC.
  2. Install Office on the New PC: On your new PC, go to the Microsoft Office website and sign in with the Microsoft account that you used to purchase Office Home and Business 2021. From there, you can download and install Office.
  3. Activate Office: Once installed, open any Office application on your new PC. You will be prompted to activate your product. Sign in with the same Microsoft account used for the original purchase to activate your Office license on the new PC.

If you encounter any issues during this process, you may need to contact Microsoft support for assistance with license transfer.

AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

Was this answer helpful?

2 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Eric Mrozinski 45 Reputation points
    2025-11-30T20:07:52.61+00:00

    I eventually contacted Microsoft. What I had to do was to stay signed in with my microsoft credentials, on e.g. Word, on the old PC. Then start e.g. Word (actually any office app) on my new PC (office already preinstalled), and then sign in there as well, with my MS credentials. Word automatically presented me a window showing the licensed Office Home and Business 2021 which I have on my old PC. I just had to select that, and Office is now available also on my new PC. Interestingly, at the moment, I can use Office on both my PCs (old and new), but I guess this is only temporary. Will uninstall Office from my old PC anyway now.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  2. George Luniw 0 Reputation points
    2026-05-17T17:15:15.0566667+00:00

    This process of transferring Office 2021 to another device which has OS Windows 11 on it is extremely difficult, cumbersome, and devastingly, frustrating especially when I've paid for the license to a Office 2021 product . It's not on a Windows device, but rather a Dell 7050 small format desktop computer. Yet you have no method to detect it's serial number, only serial numbers from Microsoft hardware devices, of which this is not. So I'm stuck after having paid for the license of Office 2021, that was previously on a Dell 3050 Windows 10 OS. What can you do quickly to enable me to use Office 2021 on my Dell 7050 ?

    Was this answer helpful?