Can't redeem or activate Microsoft 365 basic 1 year subscription on 1st setup.

Question

Can't redeem Microsoft 365 basic 1 year subscription on 1st setup after buying dell 14 plus 2025. The Dell store staff installed 2013 version as it was getting late, so they told me come another day to redeem Microsoft and Mcafee at the same time (Mcafee is also on trial version for the moment). Few weeks ago, I've created a free account so is this the problem that I can't claim the subscription?

Looking forward.

Regards,

Kanhai Hemam

Answer 1

H Kanhai, Microsoft 365 Basic has nothing to do with Microsoft Office 2013, which cannot be a legitimate version as it is no longer available from Microsoft. Microsoft 365 Basic gives the user 100GB OneDrive Space, that is, it increases the 5GB free OneDrive to 100GBs. Plus you get an Ad-free Outlook email account. https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/p/microsoft-365-basic/cfq7ttc0ktxs Of course you need to be signed in with same Microsoft Account associated with other Microsoft Products, e.g. Office 2013, free 5GB OneDrive.

Answer 2

Hi @kanhai hemam

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

Based on my research, here are a few possible reasons why your Microsoft 365 Basic 1-year subscription might not be activating: 

1.The Office 2013 installed is not compatible with Microsoft 365. This likely blocked the automatic activation of your 1-year Microsoft 365 basic subscription.  

2.Dell laptops with Microsoft 365 pre-installed use a digital license. This license is triggered only when you:  

-Uninstall any older Office versions. 
-Sign in to a Microsoft 365 app using your Microsoft account. 

-Or go to Sign in and activate from there.

3.Creating a free Microsoft account a few weeks ago is not an issue, that’s what you need to activate the subscription. Just make sure you’re signed in with that same account when you redeem Microsoft 365. 

4.Ensure the product key is genuine, unused. Check the characters one more time to be sure you typed the key correctly. 

5.Confirm that your Microsoft account’s region matches the region the product key was issued for. Region mismatches can prevent successful activation. 

6.If the key still doesn’t work, contact the vendor or retailer where you purchased it.  
You can read more at Activate Office for Windows - Microsoft Support 

I hope this helps.

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