Unable to connect to licensing helper

Question

I am completely locked out of my original Microsoft account. I cannot access the Microsoft Authenticator app because when I try to add my phone number (using the last four digits), it says that option is currently unavailable. I do not have backup codes.

Recovery requests are being ignored because 2FA is enabled.

I have two email accounts with active Microsoft 365 subscriptions that I cannot access.

As a result, I created a new Microsoft account and purchased Office Home 2024 (one-time purchase). After installing on my Mac, I constantly get the error: "Unable to connect to the licensing helper."

I have tried:

• Multiple complete reinstalls of Office
• Running the official Microsoft Office License Removal Tool for Mac
• Deleting all Microsoft containers in ~/Library/Containers
• Multiple Terminal commands to reset licensing services
• Running Microsoft AutoUpdate
• Multiple restarts

When I called Microsoft support at 1-800-865-9408, they told me to visit the website and hung up.

Microsoft's support page currently acknowledges a known activation issue with Office on macOS.

I now have three paid Microsoft products I cannot use. Please help as I've been at this for two days now and can't do anything with it.

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[Tag moved from: Microsoft Security | Microsoft Authenticator]

Answer 1

Hello Karina Jensen

I’m sorry you’re dealing with two separate problems: the original accounts are blocked by two-step verification, while the new Office Home 2024 purchase cannot communicate with the Mac licensing service. The current macOS activation notice does not necessarily cover the specific “licensing helper” error.

I recommend trying the following:

1. On the Mac, open System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions. Under Allow in the Background, enable Microsoft Office Licensing and Microsoft Corporation, then restart the Mac.
2. If those entries are missing, reinstall or update the licensing helper using the official Licensing helper tool instructions. The helper should exist at /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.
3. If the issue continues, you may need to manually reload the Office licensing helper:

Open Terminal and run the following commands one at a time. When prompted, enter your Mac’s administrator password:

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist

sudo chmod 4755 /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper

After running these commands, reopen any Office app (such as Excel or Word) and sign in with the Microsoft account that owns the Office 2024 Home license, test again.

4. If Terminal reports that either file is missing, first completely remove all previous Office versions from the Mac. Then reinstall Office from the new account’s Services & subscriptions page, not from the Mac App Store, since a one-time Office license requires Microsoft’s installer.

For the original accounts, the recovery form cannot bypass two-step verification when no verification method or recovery code is available. Use the Microsoft Sign-in Helper and check every available verification option. Support cannot manually remove 2FA or change account security details.

Please let me know how it goes after trying these steps, and I'll be glad to continue looking into it with you.

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