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Old version of Office preventing activation of new installation

Anonymous
2023-08-05T12:49:49+00:00

I have purchased a copy of Officer 2016 for my wife's computer, which was activated and downloaded without any problem. However as soon as I try to use one of the functions - Word for example, I get a panel come up stating that Office 2016 needed to be activated (which was already done and accepted on installation) The next panel then said that Office could not be activated because the key had been used the maximum permitted number of times.

The computer is second hand, and probably once had Office 2016 on it, which was improperly deleted before we acquired it. I suspect that there is still a small line or two of code somewhere which keeps asking me to activate the previously deleted version, so preventing me from using the newly installed one. Can anyone help before I lose the plot and throw it out of the (real) window?

The only other programme on the computer is Windows 11.

Thank you

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-08-06T15:26:08+00:00

    Thanks for your speedy reply ReynaldoB, much appreciated.

    Your first paragraph sums up the problem perfectly.

    I have attached the two screenshots - please forgive the size as I have not quite got the hang of it yet.

    I tried the Command Prompt suggestion, and all I got was 'Program not recognised as a command'

    I also tried the (Change your Office Product Key' and ended up back at the start as per the two photos.

    I did find that it was Office version 2307, build (16626.2013 click-to-run) (32 bit)but cannot be sure if this is the original Office 2016 or the latest download.

    Hope that this is of some help.

    Thanks,

    Allan

    ![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/f4f8c02a-542d-4fbb-a455-a8893d55fb38?platform=QnA

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-08-09T18:03:56+00:00

    Thanks to both Reynaldo B and Ron.

    I was on the verge of wiping my computer and starting again, when I realised that I had only tried to activate the programme automatically over the net, which did not work. I decided to give it one last go by trying to activate it via the telephone method. As you both probably know, it was a longish convoluted method, which involved having to enter dozens of digits, both via my phone and PC - but in the end I was amazed to find that it worked! I have now breathed a sigh of relief, both because it seems that my downloaded copy was legit, and it activated just fine.

    So again, thank you both for your time and efforts, much appreciated.

    Keep safe,

    Allan

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-08-09T07:11:20+00:00

    Hi Allan, Please note that Microsoft no longer sells Office 2016 and in any event Office Pro Plus is a volume based licence and was only provided to companies for their employees and schools for their pupils etc it was never on sale legitimately on the internet. These versions are illicit and sold on the internet in contravention of the licence. Sorry, try going back to where you purchased the software. They sometime will provide you with a Product Key that will work, at least for a period of time. Sometimes they work for a short time and sometimes they work for a long time and sometimes they do not work at all, as you have found out.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-08-09T04:15:06+00:00

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-08-05T19:29:36+00:00

    Hi Allan Woodliffe

    Thank you for posting on the Microsoft Community forum. I hope you are well.

    Based on your description, it seems to be that you have a problem with your Office program that keeps asking you to activate the product despite of being activated. It could be that your Office program detects a different version of Office that is why it's asking for activation. Let's work together to find the best solution to this problem.

    I would like to ask a few questions to better understand the problem.

    To further assist you, I would suggest that you try this solution to remove old Office licenses on the computer. On this process, we will be using the command prompt to remove old licenses. Before starting out, make sure to close all Office programs.

    • Open Command Prompt and Run as an administrator.
    • Type or copy this command line, you can choose either of the two options if you can't find the file path. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16 or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16
    • Check for the status using this command line, cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus
    • Once you see the last five characters of the license you can then remove it using this command, cscript ospp.vbs /unpkey:xxxxx(Replace XXXXX with the last five characters that was found)
    • After removing, try again to run the cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus to check for more until it shows no more results then close the window.
    • Now start opening an Office program to reactivate again.

    For reference, please check this link here. Change your Office product key - Microsoft Support

    I look forward to your reply.

    Sincerely,

    ReynaldoB

    Microsoft Community Forum Moderator

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