Office Home & Business 2019 - License Not Activated / Prompted to Buy Microsoft 365

Question

Hello,

I am experiencing an activation issue with my Office Home & Business 2019 license on macOS and would appreciate your help.

Account: ******@outlook.com

Issue summary:

• Under account.microsoft.com/services, my account shows "Office Home & Business 2019 (3 copies)" with copies added on Jan 27, 2025, Dec 2, 2025, and Jul 29, 2026.
• On my Mac, Word/Office shows "License: Not Activated."
• When I sign in with ******@outlook.com, I get a "No License Found" message telling me to buy Microsoft 365 or use another account - even though my account clearly owns an Office 2019 license.
• When trying "Refresh License," I receive: "Couldn't refresh license, Error code: 44."

Troubleshooting already completed:

1. Confirmed I'm signing in with the correct account (******@outlook.com), which owns the Office 2019 license per Services & subscriptions.
2. Signed out and signed back into Word multiple times.
3. Ran the official Microsoft License Removal Tool.
4. Manually removed Office-related folders from ~/Library/Containers, ~/Library/Group Containers, and ~/Library/Application Support.
5. Restarted the Mac.
6. Fully uninstalled Office and reinstalled using the "Install" link directly under the Office Home & Business 2019 section on account.microsoft.com/services (installer file: Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.106.2).
7. Signed in again after reinstalling - same "Not Activated" status.
8. Tried "Refresh License" again - same Error code: 44.
9. Checked for a 25-character product key under my account - none is displayed (license appears to be account-linked, not key-based).

Device ID: 0692A334-534C-5C3A-9A9C-1F48DCBF5005

Session ID: 1469689B-53F8-47A5-8E3E-9426C90BAB3F

Word version: 16.106 (26020821)

Could you please check on your end why this account's Office 2019 license isn't being recognized during activation, and re-link/repair the license if needed?

Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

If your version of Office is 2019, then the error you are seeing is caused by an update on the 13th of July, many people are seeing the exact same error, after that update your Office apps will go into Read Only mode because it is no longer possible to update the security certificates on that version of Office, on the link below they provide full details on that update.

https://support.microsoft.com/office/update-microsoft-365-or-office-on-your-macos-or-ios-device-f418ae5d-bb5f-4078-b3d9-9340f5dd084e