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I've been struggling for days to resolve an issue with the sudden appearance of a "Update License" message on both my 2023 MacBook Pro, and my 2019 iMac Pro. I made purchases of the Office Home and Business 2021 software for Mac in July 2023 (for the MacBook) and August 2023 (for the iMac) respectively for the above Macs. These are standalone product installations, not the subscription-based 365 products.
I never had any issues with the Home and Business 2021 software until a couple of weeks ago, when following an auto update to the software, I unexpectedly began to see a message instructing me to "Update License" in the Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications. Here's a sequence of screen shots illustrating what occurs, on each of my Macs. The screenshots that follow are from my 2023 MacBook Pro with the following Operating System:
1.) Under "About Microsoft Word, the text "Update License" now appears:
2.) Clicking on "Update License" opens the following pop-up window:
3.) Clicking on the "Sign in" button opens the "Activate Office" pop-up window:
4.) Entering my Microsoft Account email address and clicking on the "Next" button opens an Account Selection pop-up window. I don't have a Work or school account, so I selected "Personal account:":
5.) Following clicking on the "Personal account" selection in the above pop-up window, the following pop-up message is displayed:
In an effort to resolve the error code: 44 problem, I spent at least 10-12 hours trying suggestions that I found on similar threads I found here on the "answers.microsoft.com" website. This included using the Microsoft Office License Removal Tool (multiple times), reinstalling the Office Home and Business 2021 for Mac (multiple times), and nothing has solved the Error code: 44 problem.
You can see a highly detailed post of my extensive efforts on another thread on this website (https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/my-word-is-displaying-error-code-44-and-wont-let/b14324e5-037f-410e-a318-71cca0161eb6. See my comments on Pages 1, 2 and 3 of that post. As illustrated on that thread, I've absolutely tried every conceivable action to fix this license-related problem. As stated in the January 30th 2024 Update (documented on Page 3), I have concerns that the recent Microsoft Office software update may have introduced the license issue, as it appears that the "Sign in" screen is referencing a "subscription" and "Microsoft 365" rather than a stand-alone, non-subscription Microsoft Office Home and Business 2021 product.
As I mention on that other thread, The fact that the installations on both the MacBook and the iMac are having the exact same problem, following the installation of Office version 16.81 (24011420), via an auto-update, which occurred on the same day. Note that this version was released by Microsoft on January 16, 2024.
For reference:
Here is the link for the Office for Mac 2021 Update History: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac
Here is the link for the Office for Mac 2021 Release Notes:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/release-notes-office-for-mac
Here is the link for the Office for Mac 2021 <Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU):
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/release-history-microsoft-autoupdate
On the link for the AutoUpdate MAU above, there's a statement regarding the January 2024 release saying: "Changes to support Office 2019 Perpetual License End of Life." There were also "Bug fixes on updates offered". I do wonder if these changes may have contributed to the licensing issues related to the Error Code 44. Please note that I'm also aware of other Mac users that are experiencing the exact same issue as I am.
While I had hoped that other thread would have generated replies from the Microsoft Community's Expert advisory, there's been little in the way of effective solutions offered to date. I'm hoping this new stand-alone post will generate some meaningful help from the Microsoft Product Team of product experts, and I'm looking forward to the replies. Thank You!
Don in Ohio
Processes in Microsoft 365 for setting up Office apps, redeeming product keys, and activating licenses.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Don
Yes the message stays in all applications nothing changes The "Up Date License" text is there permanently.
I don't understand why this is but maybe it has to do with the subscription version, where in you need to update the license every time you pay?
Hi Marc,
Interesting that the "Update License" link remains in the apps "About" drop-down menu, even after getting the pop-up success message. That too seems like an oversight in the programming of the Office applications' updates in the January 2024 time frame. Is that same behavior occurring in the Word and Powerpoint applications? It is almost like an overzealous attempt by the software engineer(s) to prevent unlicensed use of the software, without due consideration for the valid, properly licensed users.
Unfortunately, innocent and legitimate purchasers of the Office Home and Business 2021 product are being negatively impacted by this software coding problem. And it's now becoming very apparent that PC users of the Office and 365 products are experiencing the same problem, as evident in the posts I've seen and subsequently linked to on this Community forum.
In my opinion, the message is now very clear: Microsoft's software engineers must acknowledge a problem exists with the Licensing verification coding in the Office products (both Mac and PC), and then promptly develop, test and deploy a corrective software fix.
Hi Don,
Yes the update license remains there regardless, even after it says its up to date
Hi Don, Leo
Don as we have been on this problem for awhile I will update you on my situation
As you know I bought a new package from Apple shop in Jan this year, Microsoft Home Office Business 2021.
Loaded everything up and everything back to normal and working, however now when I click the, Update License it shows the following, so this now Leeds me to believe that MS is no longer supporting the 2021 product and just automatically changes the license over to 360 as can be seen below.
I think this answers the question why they no longer bothering to respond to any questions on this issue
Hi Mark (and Leo!) ...
Your message crossed paths with Leo's. I'm surprised your newly purchased Office Home and Business 2021 product is still showing the "Update License" text. It's good to see that you're able to get the "Success!" pop-up message after signing in. That said, if you close the Excel application and reopen it, are you still seeing the "Update License" text after you restart the app? Or is it a once-and-done thing where after you get the "Success!" acknowledgement, all subsequent launches of Excel do not display "Update License". If so, what exactly does get displayed in the "About Excel" menu drop-down?
To my knowledge, Microsoft is not halting the support of the Office Home and Business 2021 product. It's still available for sale and there is a one-year warranty documented in the licensing documentation. I believe that some of the confusion is caused by Microsoft casually referring to the all of their Office Products (including Office Home and Business 2021) as belonging to the Microsoft 365 family of products. I suspect they'd like nothing better than migrating all end-users of the Office products to the Microsoft 365 offer. As your screen shot denotes, the "Update License" pop-up displays a reference to a "subscription" for "Microsoft 365". I made a comment in one of my license-related posts, saying clicking on the "Update License" link ... "is accompanied by statement in the Word/Excel/PowerPoint (but not Outlook) drop-down menus stating "Update License". Clicking on that statement opens a popup window stating "Sign in to verify your subscription ... Please sign in with the account you use for Microsoft 365". This seems wrong since these products were stand-alone, one-time purchases, not an ongoing subscription service."
Nothing has improved for me in the past 48 hours or so, despite all my efforts. Clicking on the "Update License" link brings up the "Sign in to verify your subscription (for Microsoft 365). I sign in, click on the resulting window to choose my Personal account, and immediately get the Error code: 44 error.. On a positive note (that I've made before), all the Office apps are still working.
Hey Don
I just read through the link data and damn, it looks to me like MicroSoft is as I said earlier in our conversation they are pushing everyone to a subscription based license.
If not then they would surely have responded to the questions?