Microsoft does not recognize my account

Question

Do not recognize my account

I renewed my 365 Microsoft account within the last year but microsoft only recognizes a desktop that is no longer operative. My computer is an apple Macbook pro which I purchased 4 years ago. Microsoft states that the credit card needs to be updated. But There is no need to do that since I purchased the 365 account within the year. I need some answers

Answer 1

Welcome Patrick Sheedy!

Thank you for reaching out.

If I understand correctly, you renewed your Microsoft 365 subscription last year, but Office on your Apple MacBook Pro still is not working properly. It also sounds like Microsoft is recognizing an older desktop device instead of your current Mac, and you may be seeing a payment or purchase prompt even though you believe the subscription has already been paid for.

Your description is a little unclear, so to better understand the issue, could you please clarify a few points?

1. When you say Microsoft only recognizes the desktop, do you mean the desktop computer appears under Devices, while the Mac does not?
2. Is the problem happening inside the Office apps on your Mac (for example, Word/Excel asking for activation), or only on the Microsoft account/billing page?
3. When you renewed Microsoft 365 last year, does the subscription show as active under your Microsoft account?
4. What exact error message did you receive when Microsoft asked you to update your card?

Tip: If you are experiencing more than one issue, please list them separately so each one can be described more clearly

I look forward to your response so we can better identify the issue and suggest more targeted solutions!

Answer 2

Follow these steps to resolve the account and subscription recognition issue on the MacBook Pro:

1. Confirm the correct Microsoft account and subscription status
   1. Go to the Microsoft account services page: https://account.microsoft.com/services/
   2. Sign in with the email address believed to be associated with the Microsoft 365 subscription.
   3. Check which subscription is listed (for example, Microsoft 365 Basic, Personal, or Family) and verify:
      • That it is active and not expired.
      • Whether it shows Has recurring billing or Expires on [date].
   4. If the page indicates that the subscription has expired or that payment information must be updated, update the credit card details there even if the renewal was recent, because the renewal may not have completed successfully.
2. Make sure the subscription type actually includes desktop apps
   • If the subscription shown is Microsoft 365 Basic, that plan does not include the right to install desktop Office apps on the Mac. It only provides 100 GB of OneDrive and web versions of Office apps. In that case, Word/Excel/PowerPoint on the Mac will not recognize a license.
   • To use the desktop apps on the Mac, a Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family subscription is required.
3. Verify sign-in inside the Office apps on the Mac
   1. Open Word (or another Office app) on the Mac.
   2. Sign out of any existing account in the app.
   3. Sign back in using the same Microsoft account that shows the active Microsoft 365 Personal/Family subscription on the services page.
   4. If prompted to activate, choose to sign in (not enter a product key) and use that same account.
4. If the subscription is active but activation still fails
   • If the subscription is confirmed active and of the correct type (Personal/Family), but the Mac apps still do not recognize it, use the guidance for activation issues:
     • On a Mac, if there are license problems or wrong accounts cached, follow the steps in How to remove Office license files on a Mac (linked from the activation troubleshooting article) and then sign in again with the correct account.
5. If the account itself is not recognized
   • If sign-in fails with messages such as “account doesn’t exist” or similar, use the Microsoft account recovery options:
     1. If the password is forgotten, use Reset your password.
     2. If the email/username is forgotten, use Look up your Microsoft account.
     3. If the username is not recognized anymore, follow My username has stopped working.
     4. If sign-in issues persist, use the Sign-in Helper tool to diagnose and fix the account problem.
6. When to contact Microsoft Support
   • If the subscription shows as active and of the correct type, payment details are correct, the correct account is used in the apps, and the Mac still cannot activate, contact Microsoft Support directly from the subscription/billing or activation help pages for further investigation.

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References:

• Problems renewing a Microsoft 365 subscription
• I can't sign in to my Microsoft account
• Microsoft 365 Apps activation error: "That Microsoft account doesn't exist. Enter a different account or get a new one."
• No license associated with my email account - Microsoft Q&A
• When opening Word or Excel, getting a 'subscription canceled' message but I have renewed my Office subscription - Microsoft Q&A