Cannot open microsoft word

Question

Microsoft Office cannot verify the licence for this product. You should repair the office program buy using control Panel

Answer 1

Have you tried an Office repair (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/repair-an-office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b)? Did it make a difference?

For more on activation issues, have a look at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/unlicensed-product-and-activation-errors-in-office-0d23d3c0-c19c-4b2f-9845-5344fedc4380 .

Answer 2

Hi Dermot Miller,

Thank you for reaching out regarding the issue you are experiencing.

The error message*“Microsoft Office cannot verify the license for this product”* typically indicates that Office is unable to validate the activation status on your device. This may occur due to factors such as incorrect account sign-in, a corrupted Office installation, or configuration issues within the system.

As a first step, I recommend repairing the Office installation, as suggested in the error message. You can do this by following these steps:

• Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features
• Select your Microsoft Office / Microsoft 365 installation
• Click Modify
• Choose Quick Repair (and if needed, follow up with Online Repair)

For more information, please consult Repair an Office application - Microsoft Support

After completing the repair, please restart your device and try opening an Office application again.

If the issue persists, please check the software protection platform registry entry

1. Select Start, enter regedit, and then select Registry Editor from the search results.
2. Navigate to the following subkey: HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
3. If there is a SoftwareProtectionPlatform value in the Current Version folder, go to the Stop running the app in compatibility mode. If there is no such value, go to step 4.
4. On a device that has Office installed and working, open Registry Editor, and navigate to the following subkey: HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform
5. Right-click SoftwareProtectionPlatform, and select Export. Save the registry value as a .reg file to storage media or another location that you can access from the original device.
6. Copy the .reg file to the original device. Then, right-click the file, and select Merge.
7. In Registry Editor on the original device, navigate to the following subkey: HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform
8. Right-click SoftwareProtectionPlatform, and select Permissions.
9. Under Group or user names, look for an entry for NETWORK SERVICE. If you find the entry, go to step 10. If you don't find the entry, select Add, enter network service in the Enter the object names to select field, and then select OK.
10. Select NETWORK SERVICE, make sure that the Allow checkbox next to Full control is selected, and then select Apply > OK.
11. Restart the device, and try again to open an Office app.

For reference: Cannot verify the license for this product when you start an Office app - Microsoft 365 Apps | Micr…

I hope this provides enough clarity and helps you stay inform with your current situation.

In the meantime, if you see my replies bring helpful information, please kindly accept it as an answer and vote it up by your original account, which raised this question. Once marked, it will automatically pin to top. As other users will also search information in this community, your valuable vote up will definitely also help other users who have similar queries easily to find the correct channel and useful information more quickly.   

 

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.   

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