Attempting to activate MS Project 2021 on new laptop

Question

Attempting to activate MS Project 2021 on new laptop

Justin Irvine 0

Attempting to activate MS Project 2021 on new laptop though is not allowing to do so. Have a Office 365 account account though my MS Project 2021 has key which I was using with no issues on old laptop though on the new laptop will not all me to record the key. It states I have exceed the license requirement. And I have uninstalled my version of MS Project 2021 from my old laptop.

Appreciate your thoughts.

0 comments

2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Justin Irvine 0

Thanks for prompt response and have followed the suggested instruction though when I open MS-Project I received this message.

User's image

I click on Next and received this message below:

User's image

And no options to continuation with activation as the phone service offered no longer operates either.

Jess-Q 12,510 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-20T06:30:34.39+00:00
Hi @Justin Irvine,

If you've already exhausted all the troubleshooting steps, please contact Microsoft Support so they can verify your license and help reactivate it for you.

Go to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/home/contact

Type your issue in the search box.

Select Get help

Scroll down to find Contact Support

Choose a product or service

Select a product category

You can choose to chat with a support agent in your web browser

Important Note: The Chat support team only works at certain work times, (Monday to Friday: 9am to 6pm. Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) so if the last window says you are not available, try to open it again the next day. If you prefer phone support, you can leave a phone number. That way, they can call you and help you.

As forum moderators, we don't have access to the detailed licensing and activation systems needed to troubleshoot this effectively, due to privacy and security constraints, so support will be best placed to assist.

Answer 2

Hi @Justin Irvine

Regarding your issue, the "exceeded license" message typically appears when the product key is re-entered on a new PC. That's because a retail Project 2021 key can only be redeemed once; after that first redemption, the entitlement is linked to the Microsoft account it was redeemed under, not to the key itself. Re-typing the key on the new laptop causes the system to treat it as an already-redeemed key, which triggers the error.

To transfer Project 2021 to your new PC, here are some steps you can try:

On you new device go to https://m365.cloud.microsoft/apps. If you're not already signed in, select Sign in with the same account used when you first activated Project.
From the Microsoft 365 home page select Install and more.
If you're not sure which Microsoft account the key was originally redeemed to, you can check at account.microsoft.com/services Project 2021 should appear in the list of products tied to that account.

For more information, refer to: Install Project

If it was redeemed before, the key is already attached to your account.

Shows the "Sign in to set up Office" page that might appear after you install Office

When you open Project, it will prompt for activation please sign in (if account-linked) or enter your product key.

For reference: Activate Office for Windows

Note: For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), you can transfer your license to another person as permitted by applicable law, by contacting customer support. You’ll be required to verify your identity through your Microsoft account to confirm you have legitimate license rights. You’ll also need to provide an email for the person you’re transferring the license to. Upon verification, Microsoft will cancel your entitlement and will email the new licensee instructions for how to associate the license with their Microsoft account. (If the new licensee doesn’t already have a Microsoft account, they’ll need to create one.)

Hopefully this will help you get activated on the new laptop and if you continue to see the "exceeded license" error after signing in, feel free to share a screenshot of the exact message is possible.

Note: Follow the steps in this documentation to enable email notifications if you want to receive email notifications related to this topic.