Installer stops half way through on Mac telling me that it can't find any associated software

Question

Installer stops half way through on Mac telling me that it can't find any associated software

J S 20

I have purchased a copy of Microsoft Office 2021 for Mac. I have downloaded installer but it stops halfway through and tells me that it cannot proceed as it is unable to find the software to download. I have deleted that installer and downloaded a new installer and run it but it gives me the same message. How do I download the software I have purchased?

J S 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T01:50:27.0966667+00:00

Now have no access to any new installers so I appear to be totally cut off from the software that I have already paid for. Not happy.

Answer accepted by question author

Ivan B 120.2K Independent Advisor

Hi,

Which version of macOS are you using?

Have you tried an offline installation? You can download it from the Office for Mac update history page:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac

Thanks.

J S 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T01:53:45.99+00:00

To Ivan B

Tahoe 26.5.2. Thank you for the suggestion. I will give it a go.
J S 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T01:59:48.6733333+00:00

Hello again Ivan B. Sadly it didn't work. All I get is a message telling me that Installer couldn't open. I will give I a little while just in case it needs more time to download things in the background first.
Ivan B 120.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-29T02:02:21.74+00:00

Hi,

Since you're using Tahoe, you can download the latest version.

Please consider rating the question (accept the answer or not), and Access the community at Microsoft Q&A if you have further questions.

Let me know if it works.

Thanks.
Ivan B 120.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-29T02:31:09.8233333+00:00

Hi,

Can you take a screenshot when it fails?

Try installing the previous version (16.100) to see if the same problem occurs.

Thanks.
J S 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T17:05:23.8366667+00:00

Good morning Ivan B. Thank you for the steer. It worked eventually, I ended up having to install the updates first which took a it of doing as there was at that stage nothing to update and then install Office proper and then update that. For some reason throughout the process the Microsoft installer software kept on crashing out, not very stable at all but I got there in the end, it took quite a few hours. Now I am in the throes of setting everything but hopefully it will be successful. Many thanks again. J S
Ivan B 120.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-29T17:08:12.71+00:00

Hi,

I understand, I hope everything goes well.

You can always count on the Microsoft Q&A community and have a good week.

Please consider rating the question (accept the answer or not), and access the community at Microsoft Q&A if you have further questions.

If there's any problem, please let me know here.

Thanks

1 additional answer

Your answer

J S 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T01:50:27.0966667+00:00

Now have no access to any new installers so I appear to be totally cut off from the software that I have already paid for. Not happy.
J S 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T01:53:45.99+00:00

To Ivan B

Tahoe 26.5.2. Thank you for the suggestion. I will give it a go.
J S 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T01:59:48.6733333+00:00

Hello again Ivan B. Sadly it didn't work. All I get is a message telling me that Installer couldn't open. I will give I a little while just in case it needs more time to download things in the background first.
Ivan B 120.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-29T02:02:21.74+00:00

Hi,

Since you're using Tahoe, you can download the latest version.

Please consider rating the question (accept the answer or not), and Access the community at Microsoft Q&A if you have further questions.

Let me know if it works.

Thanks.
Ivan B 120.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-29T02:31:09.8233333+00:00

Hi,

Can you take a screenshot when it fails?

Try installing the previous version (16.100) to see if the same problem occurs.

Thanks.
J S 20 Reputation points

2026-07-29T17:05:23.8366667+00:00

Good morning Ivan B. Thank you for the steer. It worked eventually, I ended up having to install the updates first which took a it of doing as there was at that stage nothing to update and then install Office proper and then update that. For some reason throughout the process the Microsoft installer software kept on crashing out, not very stable at all but I got there in the end, it took quite a few hours. Now I am in the throes of setting everything but hopefully it will be successful. Many thanks again. J S
Ivan B 120.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-29T17:08:12.71+00:00

Hi,

I understand, I hope everything goes well.

You can always count on the Microsoft Q&A community and have a good week.

Please consider rating the question (accept the answer or not), and access the community at Microsoft Q&A if you have further questions.

If there's any problem, please let me know here.

Thanks

Answer 1

The recommendation to use the update through the Office for Mac link was ultimately successful. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac It took a lot of time and a lot of false starts but ultimately it worked. I did need to have entered my installation code as part of the initial try otherwise I am sure it wouldn't have worked at all. The installers did not work well and they kept on crashing out so I had to keep trying. I found that the most likely way to get the installer to work was to find the file in Finder and double click it. If that didn't work then the only thing I could do was to delete it and redownload it. I did hit despair as the pge with the original links disappeared so the recommendation to try the link to updates was a Godsend (thank you Ivan B). It turned out that what I had to do was install the updates to each programme (Word, Excel etc) separately first, this took some doing, then download the software suite and then update that as an entity. The other thing is to leave plenty of time (about 20 mins) for any background downloads to occur before proceeding on to the next one then love it a further half hour once all was downloaded and installed. All necessary links are given as part of the installation process for anything that Microsoft needs tweaking.