Old 365 subscription preventing me from using new subscription

Question

Old 365 subscription preventing me from using new subscription

George Peppes 20

I had a personal 365 subscription that I let expire on Jan 3rd. I did not re-new it on purpose b/c my wife purchased a shared subscription in September that she uses on new our home PC. She invited me to join it and on Jan 3rd, I accepted her invitation and went through the download process for the shared 365 software.

Now I can not use my programs (excel, word, etc.) because a message says I have an expired subscription. see attached... User's image

Thanks in advance for helping me solve this frustrating issue.

Stefan Blom 328.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-05T00:16:00.1433333+00:00

This question was also asked in another thread at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5682599/how-do-i-join-a-family-365-subscription . Avoid multiposting.

EDIT: The original thread is now locked.

Answer accepted by question author

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Stefan Blom 328.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-05T00:16:00.1433333+00:00

This question was also asked in another thread at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5682599/how-do-i-join-a-family-365-subscription . Avoid multiposting.

EDIT: The original thread is now locked.

Answer 1

John Jefferson Doyon 53,915 Independent Advisor

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

Are you able to see your Microsoft 365 Family subscription under the Services & subscriptions page here: https://account.microsoft.com/services

Please make sure you’re signed in with the same Microsoft account your wife invited to the Family subscription.

If you can see the subscription there and it shows as active, please follow the steps below.

Before installing, it’s a good idea to uninstall all existing versions of Office to avoid conflicts.

Here’s how:

Open the Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.
Look for any version of Microsoft Office or Office apps, right-click, then choose Uninstall. Please uninstall all Office apps.
Once that’s done, restart your computer just to be safe.

Then, to reinstall Microsoft Office:

Go to https://account.microsoft.com/services again
Sign in using the same Microsoft account linked to MS365 Family subscription.
Find Microsoft 365 Family subscription and click the "Install" button.
That will download the installer for the Office apps, just run it and follow the steps.

If anything’s unclear or the "Install" button still doesn’t show, feel free to let me know. I’ll be happy to walk you through it!

I really hope this information is helpful! Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Regards,

John J.D.

George Peppes 20 Reputation points

2026-01-05T00:22:22.79+00:00

thanks for the response John. see attached.

Yes, the family subscription is shown. I did the install yesterday. what I did not do is uninstall first. I will try that now.

I will keep this string active till all is good.
John Jefferson Doyon 53,915 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-01-05T00:44:45.5766667+00:00

Please let me know how it goes.

I saw that Stefan Blom, a Volunteer Moderator, commented that you already asked the question in another thread. As a friendly reminder, please avoid creating a new topic in the future and continue troubleshooting in the existing thread. If you can't find the old thread you can check it under your profile by clicking your profile picture from top right corner and clicking "Profile".
George Peppes 20 Reputation points

2026-01-05T00:49:18.8566667+00:00

Hi John, I uninstalled 365 as directed and re-booted. Once the old 365 was gone, my file icons lost their image and were just blank... this I expected. I then installed from the shared subscription section in the previous screen shot I sent you and re-booted again. I now have the file icon images back... good!

But, when I go open a file I still get the same message. HELP!
John Jefferson Doyon 53,915 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-01-05T00:58:54.5+00:00
Thank you for letting me know.

Please try to sign out of Office completely

Open any Office app.

Click File > Account.

Sign out of all accounts listed there.

Do the same with all Office app

Close all Office apps. Check if issue still persists.

If issue still persists pls try to remove old Office credentials

On Windows, open Control Panel > Credential Manager.

Go to Windows Credentials.

Remove any entries related to MicrosoftOffice, Office, or your old Microsoft account.

Restart the PC. Then check if issue persists.

If issue still persists please follow the instructions again earlier and uninstall all Office app first and reinstall it from Services and Subscription page.

Let me know how it goes.
George Peppes 20 Reputation points

2026-01-05T01:19:45.08+00:00

The issue was solved after John's last suggestion to sign out of an office application and then sign back in. Thank you all.

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Old 365 subscription preventing me from using new subscription

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