activating microsoft 365

Question

activating microsoft 365

Juerg Baenziger 0

I am trying to activate a shared Microsoft 365 subscription on an apple notebook but I keep getting an error message that will not allow me to activate the subsription

EmilyS726 276.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-28T22:30:59.42+00:00

Juerg,

What is your macOS version?

Is your office product purchased from Microsoft or from Apple? Are you the plan owner?
Juerg Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2026-10-29T00:51:01.13+00:00

I am the original purchaser of the family subscription, it is on a Windows and I believe I purchased it from Microsoft, or maybe I purchased it from Lenovo when I originally bought my Windows computer. The shared subscription seemed to work well for some years now on the Mac, but since about a month it doesn't allow to edit or create documents in Excel or Word. I tried downloading the apps again but that seemed not to work. The mac OS is Sonoma 14.1.4 and I have just now upgraded to Sonoma 14.8.9 and I am currently downloading the apps again on the mac using my wife's Microsoft account which shows the shared subscription. The error message I believe was 0x0 (from memory).
EmilyS726 276.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-29T01:18:35.2733333+00:00

Thank you. If it was not purchased from Apple, make sure you do not download from Apple App Store. Please download from your Microsoft account.

If it still doesn’t work can you tell me the app version number it installs?
Juerg Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2026-10-29T01:38:56.82+00:00

It still shows Activate Microsoft 365 to Create and Edit when I open Excel. When I check about the version it says: Version 16.77 (23091003); license not activated; Belongs to [it shows the account of my wife]; Device ID: [a long string of numbers].

I also tried to run office update and I get the following error: Update error.... some apps have encountered error
Juerg Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2026-10-29T01:44:29.6966667+00:00

just for completeness sake the apps were downloaded as Microsoft_365_and_office_16.114.26102720_BusinessPro_installer and it came from https://account.microsoft,com
EmilyS726 276.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-29T02:10:31.3166667+00:00

Does the one downloaded from your account work? That should install 16.114.3 version.
Juerg Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2026-10-29T02:43:04.1133333+00:00

No it did not work, as I indicated it installed version 16.114.261102270 I am not sure if that is different from 16.114.3? And if so how I can get that version. Should I first uninstall the current versions? I can try this tomorrow because it deleted the download and I have spent too much time for today downloading I will try tomorrow once again.

1 answer

Your answer

EmilyS726 276.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-28T22:30:59.42+00:00

Juerg,

What is your macOS version?

Is your office product purchased from Microsoft or from Apple? Are you the plan owner?
Juerg Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2026-10-29T00:51:01.13+00:00

I am the original purchaser of the family subscription, it is on a Windows and I believe I purchased it from Microsoft, or maybe I purchased it from Lenovo when I originally bought my Windows computer. The shared subscription seemed to work well for some years now on the Mac, but since about a month it doesn't allow to edit or create documents in Excel or Word. I tried downloading the apps again but that seemed not to work. The mac OS is Sonoma 14.1.4 and I have just now upgraded to Sonoma 14.8.9 and I am currently downloading the apps again on the mac using my wife's Microsoft account which shows the shared subscription. The error message I believe was 0x0 (from memory).
EmilyS726 276.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-29T01:18:35.2733333+00:00

Thank you. If it was not purchased from Apple, make sure you do not download from Apple App Store. Please download from your Microsoft account.

If it still doesn’t work can you tell me the app version number it installs?
Juerg Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2026-10-29T01:38:56.82+00:00

It still shows Activate Microsoft 365 to Create and Edit when I open Excel. When I check about the version it says: Version 16.77 (23091003); license not activated; Belongs to [it shows the account of my wife]; Device ID: [a long string of numbers].

I also tried to run office update and I get the following error: Update error.... some apps have encountered error
Juerg Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2026-10-29T01:44:29.6966667+00:00

just for completeness sake the apps were downloaded as Microsoft_365_and_office_16.114.26102720_BusinessPro_installer and it came from https://account.microsoft,com
EmilyS726 276.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-29T02:10:31.3166667+00:00

Does the one downloaded from your account work? That should install 16.114.3 version.
Juerg Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2026-10-29T02:43:04.1133333+00:00

No it did not work, as I indicated it installed version 16.114.261102270 I am not sure if that is different from 16.114.3? And if so how I can get that version. Should I first uninstall the current versions? I can try this tomorrow because it deleted the download and I have spent too much time for today downloading I will try tomorrow once again.

Answer 1

EmilyS726 276.4K Independent Advisor

Yes, ideally you need to uninstall the current apps first, then install them from your account. Let me know how that goes.

If that doesn't work, I am going to have you uninstall again, and install the 16.112 version since you said it worked in August. https://res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft/mro1cdnstorage/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/MacAutoupdate/Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.112.26081010_BusinessPro_Installer.pkg

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