Office 2016 activation

Michał Kucharski 1 Reputation point
2022-06-13T09:11:15.773+00:00

I'm using dell's work computer. I had a problem with the office suite for several days. It kept crashing on and off. The next time it broke, a window appeared that the repair option should be used. I used this option, but it caused my office (outlook) to stop working completely. I had to reinstall the whole package, but it didn't help. Eventually I had to reinstall windows. However, when I tried to reactivate Office 2016, I was getting the error "Product key not recognized". Unable to activate the online application or the phone because it does not recognize the key. I chatted with Microsoft employees and they directed me here to help me.

Office Management
Office Management
Office: A suite of Microsoft productivity software that supports common business tasks, including word processing, email, presentations, and data management and analysis.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. Emi Zhang-MSFT 21,856 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2022-06-14T07:25:11.96+00:00

    Hi @Michał Kucharski ,
    How did you re-install Windows?

    I suggest you check the status of Office license in PC now, please follow these steps:
    Search CMD, right-click the Command Prompt and run as administrator. Then copy and paste the command, click Enter at last:
    cscript.exe "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office16\ospp.vbs" /dstatus
    If you are running 32-bit Office on a 64-bit operating system:
    cscript.exe "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office16\ospp.vbs" /dstatus
    162990-21.png

    If you can find the Office 365 product key in list, try to remove it by typing the following command with the Last 5 characters of installed product key (I replace it with XXXXX, but what you type in is what you see on your computer) in this interface:
    cscript.exe "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office16\ospp.vbs" /unpkey:XXXXX
    If the 32bit version of Office installed on a 64bit operation, run the following command:
    cscript.exe "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office16\ospp.vbs" /unpkey:XXXXX
    163042-22.png

    Then you can re-activate Office in Windows and check the result.
    Just checking in to see if the information was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.


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